UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
LOS  ANGELES 


MARY  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS 


x" 

LIFE 


HARY  QUEEN   OF   SCOTS 


BY 

HENRY  GLASSFORD  BELL,  ESQ. 


> 


IN     TWO     VOLUMES. 
VOL.     I. 


*ex  memoire  de  1'ame  et  de  1'honneur  de  celle  qui  a  esto 
Totre  royne." — Mary't  own  words. 


A.    L.    FOWLE 

NEW  YORK 
IQOO 


A 


B-f 


v,  ) 

PREFACE. 


A  NEW  work  on  the  subject  of  Mary  Queen  of 
Scots  runs  an  imminent  risk  of  being  considered  a 
work  of  supererogation.  No  period  of  British 
history  has  been  more  elaborately  illustrated  than 
that  of  her  life  and  reign.  She  ascended  the 
Scottish  throne  at  a  time  replete  with  interest; 
when  the  country  had  awakened  from  the  lethargy 
of  ages,  and  when  the  gray  dawn  of  civilization, 
heralding  the  full  sunshine  of  coming  years,  threw 
its  light  and  shade  on  many  a  bold  and  prominent 
figure,  standing  confessed  in  rugged  grandeur  as 
the  darkness  gradually  rolled  away.  It  was  a  time 
^  when  national  and  individual  character  were  alike 
strongly  marked, — a  time  when  Knox  preached, 
Buchanan  wrote,  Murray  plotted,  and  Bothwell 
^  murdered.  The  mailed  feudal  barons, — the  un- 
shrinking Reformers,  founders  of  the  Presbyterian 
j£  church,  and  mailed  in  mind  if  not  in  body, — the 

.>  discomfited,  but  the  still  rich  and  haughty  eccle- 

siastics of  the  Romish  faith,  the  contemporaries 
and  followers  of  the  stern  Cardinal  Beaton, — all 
start  forth  so  vividly  before  the  mind's  eye  that 
they  seem  subjects  better  suited  for  the  inspired 
pencil  of  a  Salvator  Rosa  than  for  the  soberer  pen 
£          of  history.     Mary  herself,  with  her  beauty  and  hei 
+          misfortunes,  shining  among  the  rest  like  the  crem- 


r 


VI 

tion  of  a  softer  age  and  clime,  fills  up  the  picture 
and  rivets  the  interest.  She  becomes  the  centre 
round  which  the  others  revolve  ;  and  their  impor- 
tance is  measured  only  by  the  influence  they  exer- 
cised over  her  fate,  and  the  share  they  had  in  that 
strange  concatenation  of  circumstances,  which,  as 
if  in  mockery  of  the  nobility  of  her  birth  and  the 
splendour  of  her  expectations,  rendered  her  life 
miserable  and  her  death  ignominious. 

There  is  little  wonder  if  such  a  theme,  though 
in  itself  inexhaustible,  should  have  exhausted  the 
energies  of  many.  Yet  the  leading  events  of 
Mary's  reign  still  give  rise  to  frequent  doubts  and 
discussions  ;  and  the  question  regarding  her  char- 
acter, which  has  so  long  agitated  and  divided  the 
literary  world,  remains  undetermined.  It  is  indeed 
only  they  who  have  time  and  inclination  to  dis- 
mantle the  shelves  of  a  library  and  pore  over  many 
a  contradictory  volume, — examine  many  a  per- 
plexing hypothesis, — and  endeavour  to  reconcile 
many  an  inconsistent  and  distracting  statement, 
— who  are  entitled  to  pronounce  upon  her  guilt  or 
innocence. 

Not  that  it  is  meant  to  be  asserted,  that  unpub- 
lished manuscripts  and  documents  calculated  tc 
throw  new  light  upon  the  subject  slumber  in  the 
archives  of  government  or  among  the  collections 
of  the  learned,  which  have  hitherto  escaped  the 
notice  of  the  antiquarian  and  the  scholar.  On  the 
contrary,  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  all 
the  papers  of  value  which  exist  have  already  been 
found  and  given  to  the  world.  After  the  voluminous 
publications  of  Anderson,  Jebb,  Goodall,  Haynes, 
Hardwicke,  Strype,  Sadler,  and  Murdin,  it  is  by 


PREFACE.  Vli 

no  means  probable  that  future  historians  will  dis- 
cover additional  materials  to  guide  them  in  their 
narrative  of  facts.  But  few  are  disposed  to  wade 
through  works  like  these  ;  and  they  who  are,  find, 
that  though  they  indicate  the  ground  on  which  the 
superstructure  of  truth  may  be  raised,  they  at  the 
same  time,  from  the  diffuseness  and  often  contra- 
dictory nature  of  their  contents,  afford  every  excuse 
to  those  who  wander  into  error.  The  consequence 
is,  that  almost  no  two  writers  have  given  exactly 
the  same  account  of  the  principal  occurrences  of 
Mary's  life.  And  it  is  this  fact  which  would  lead 
to  the  belief  that  there  is  still  an  opening  for  an 
author,  who  would  endeavour,  with  impartiality, 
candour,  and  decision,  to  draw  the  due  line  of  dis- 
tinction between  the  prejudices  of  the  one  side  and 
the  prepossessions  of  the  other, — who  would  expose 
the  wilful  misrepresentations  of  party-spirit,  and 
-correct  the  involuntary  errors  of  ignorance, — who 
would  aim  at  being  scrupulously  just,  but  not  un- 
necessarily severe — steadily  consistent,  but  not 
tamely  indifferent — boldly  independent,  but  not 
unphilosophically  violent. 

It  seems  to  be  a  principle  of  our  common  nature 
to  be  ever  anxious  to  wage  an  honourable  warfare 
against  doubt ;  and  no  one  is  more  likely  to  fix  the 
attention  than  he  who  undertakes  to  prove  what 
has  been  previously  disputed.  It  is  this  principle 
which  has  attached  so  much  interest  to  the  life  of 
the  Queen  of  Scots,  and  induced  so  many  writers 
(and  some  of  no  mean  note)  to  investigate  her  char- 
acter both  as  a  sovereign  and  a  woman ;  and  the 
consequence  has  been,  that  one  half  have  under- 
taken to  put  her  criminality  beyond  a  doubt,  and 


the  other  as  confidently  pledged  themselves  it 
establish  her  innocence.  It  may  seem  a  bold  but 
it  is  a  conscientious  opinion,  that  no  single  author, 
whether  an  accuser  or  a  defender,  has  been  entirely 
successful.  To  arrive  at  a  satisfactory  conclusion 
the  works  of  several  must  be  consulted  ;  and,  even 
after  all,  the  mind  is  often  lelt  tossing  amid  a  sea 
of  difficulties.  The  talents  of  many  who  have 
broken  a  lance  in  the  Marian  controversy  are  un- 
doubted ;  but  if  we  attend  for  a  moment  to  its  pro- 
gress, the  reasons  why  it  is  still  involved  in  obscu- 
rity may  probably  be  discovered. 

The  ablest  literary  man  in  Scotland  contempo- 
rary with  Mary  was  George  Buchanan ;  the  Earl 
of  Murray  was  his  patron,  and  Secretary  Cecil  his 
admirer.  The  first  publication  regarding  the  queen 
came  from  his  pen ;  it  was  written  with  consum- 
mate ability,  but  with  a  dishonest  though  not  un- 
natural leaning  to  the  side  which  was  the  strongest 
at  the  time,  and  which  his  own  interests  and  views 
of  personal  and  family  aggrandizement  pointed  out 
as  the  most  profitable.  The  eloquence  of  his  style 
and  the  confidence  of  his  statements  gave  a  bias  to 
public  opinion,  which  feebler  spirits  laboured  in 
vain  to  counteract.  Less  powerful  as  an  author, 
but  not  less  virulent  as  an  enemy,  Knox  nex* 
appeared  in  the  lists,  and  unfurling  the  banner  of 
what  was  then  considered  religion,  converted  every 
doubt  into  conviction,  by  appealing  to  the  bigotry 
and  the  superstition  of  the  uninformed  multitude. 
Yet  Knox  was  probably  conscientious,  if  the  term 
can  be  applied  with  propriety  to  one  who  did  not 
believe  that  the  Church  of  Rome  possessed  a  single 
rirtuous  member.  In  opposition  to  the  productions 


PREFACE.  IX 

»f  these  authors,  is  the  "Defence  of  Mary's 
Honour,"  by  Lesley,  Bishop  of  Ross,  an  able  but 
somewhat  declamatory  work,  and  as  liable  to  sus- 
picion as  the  others,  because  written  by  an  avowed 
partisan  and  active  servant  of  the  queen.  A  crowd 
of  inferior  compositions  followed,  useful  sometimes 
for  the  facts  they  contain,  but  all  so  strongly  tinc- 
tured with  party  zeal  that  little  reliance  is  to  be 
placed  on  their  accuracy.  Among  these  may  be 
enumerated  the  works  of  Blackwood  and  Caussin, 
who  wrote  in  French, — of  Conseus,  Strada,  and 
Turner  (the  last  under  the  assumed  name  of 
Barnestaple),  who  wrote  in  Latin, — and  of  Antonio 
de  Herrera,  who  wrote  in  Spanish. 

The  calamities  which  after  the  lapse  of  a  century 
again  overtook  the  house  of  Stuart  recalled  atten- 
tion to  the  discussions  concerning  Mary;  and 
though  time  had  softened  the  asperity  of  the  dis- 
putants, the  question  was  once  more  destined  to 
become  connected  with  party  prejudices.  From 
the  publication  of  Crawford's  "Memoirs,"  in  1705, 
down  to  the  appearance  of  Chalmers's  "Life  of 
Mary,"  in  1818,  the  history  of  the  Queen  of  Scots 
has  continued  one  of  those  standard  subjects  which 
has  given  birth  to  a  new  work  at  least  every  five 
years.  A  few  of  the  more  important  may  be  men- 
tioned. In  1725,  Jebb  published  his  own  life  of 
Mary,  and  his  collection  in  two  volumes  folio,  of 
works  which  had  previously  appeared  both  for  and 
against  her.  The  former  production  is  of  little 
value,  but  the  latter  is  exceedingly  useful,  and  in- 
deed no  one  can  write  with  fairness  concerning 
Mary  without  consulting  it.  Lives  of  the  queen  by 
Heywood  and  Freebairn  shortly  succeeded ;  both 


X  PREFACE. 

of  whom  were  anxious  to  vindicate  her,  but  in  theii 
anxiety  overshot  the  mark.  In  1728,  Anderson's 
"Collections"  were  presented  to  the  public,  con- 
taining many  papers  of  interest  and  value  which 
are  not  to  be  found  elsewhere.  But  they  are  often 
disingenuously  garbled,  that  Mary  may  be  made 
to  appear  in  an  unfavourable  tight ;  and  a  more 
recent  author  informs  us,  that  they  were  in  conse- 
quence "sold  as  waste-paper,  leaving  the  editor 
ruined  in  his  character  and  injured  in  his  prospects." 
In  Scotland,  the  rebellion  of  1715  pov.  •  fully 
revived  the  animosities  which  had  never  lain  en- 
tirely dormant  since  the  establishment  of  a  new 
dynasty  in  1688  ;  and  the  transition  from  Charles 
to  his  ancestor  Mary  was  easy  and  natural.  The 
second  rebellion  in  1745  did  not  diminish  the  in- 
terest taken  in  the  Queen  of  Scots,  nor  the  ardour 
with  which  the  question  of  her  wrongs  or  crimes 
was  agitated.  In  1754,  Mr.  Goodall,  librarian  to 
the  Faculty  of  Advocates,  made  a  valuable  addition 
to  the  works  already  extant  on  the  subject,  in  his 
'  Examination"  of  the  letters  attributed  to  Mary. 
His  habits  of  laborious  research  combined  with  no 
inconsiderable  powers  of  reasoning  enabled  him 
not  only  to  bring  together  many  original  papers, 
not  before  published,  but  to  found  on  these  much 
acute  argument,  and  deduce  from  them  many  sound 
conclusions.  Goodall's  work  will  never  be  popu- 
lar, because  it  is  full  of  ancient  documents,  which 
one  is  more  willing  to  refer  to  than  to  read ;  but, 
as  may  be  remarked  of  Jebb  and  Anderson,  he 
who  means  to  write  of  Mary  should  not  commence 
until  he  has  also  carefully  perused  the  "  Exami- 
nation." 


PREFACE.  XI 

Four  years  posterior  to  Goodall's  two  volumes 
appeared  Robertson's  "  History  of  Scotland."  Of 
course,  the  leading  events  of  Mary's  reign  were 
narrated  at  length,  but  too  much  with  the  stiff 
frigidity  which  Robertson  imagined  constituted 
historical  dignity,  and  which  was  continually  betray- 
ing a  greater  anxiety  about  the  manner  than  the 
matter.  Accordingly,  what  his  style  gained  in  con 
straint  his  subject  lost  in  interest.  No  one  has 
said  so  much  of  Queen  Mary  to  so  little  definite 
purpose  as  Robertson; — no  one  has  so  entirely 
failed  in  making  us  either  hate  or  love  her.  Be- 
sides, he  thought  her  guilty,  on  the  authority  of 
Buchanan,  and  has  consequently  thrown  a  false 
gloss  over  her  character  from  beginning  to  end. 
He  was  supported  in  his  opinions,  it  is  true,  by  the 
historian  Hume,  but  the  latter,  having  devoted  most 
of  his  attention  to  the  history  of  England,  cannot 
be  supposed  to  have  been  very  deeply  versed  in 
the  affairs  of  Scotland ;  and  in  so  far  as  these  are 
concerned,  his  authority  is  not  of  the  highest  weight. 
Yet,  from  the  reputation  which  these  two  writers 
have  acquired,  and  deservedly  upon  other  grounds, 
they  have  done  more  mischief  to  Mary  than  per- 
haps any  of  her  calumniators,  the  multitude  being 
too  often  inclined  to  forget  when  once  thoroughly 
juratus  in  verba  magistri,  that  he  who  distinguishes 
himself  in  one  department  may  be,  and  commonly 
is,  deficient  in  another.  In  1760,  the  credit  both 
of  Robertson  and  Hume  was  a  good  deal  shaken 
by  Tytler's  "Inquiry"  into  the  evidence  against 
Mary.  This  work  is  neither  historical  nor  biogra- 
phical, but  argumentative  and  controversial.  It  is 
founded  upon  Goodall,  to  whom  Tytler  confesses 

T.— B 


£11  PREFACE. 

his  obligations,  but  the  reasonings  are  much  more 
lucidly  and  popularly  arranged  ;  and  though  not  so 
complete  or  so  full  of  research  as  it  might  hare 
keen,  it  is  upon  the  whole  the  ablest  and  most  con- 
vincing production  which  has  yet  appeared  on  th« 
side  of  the  Queen  of  Scots. 

Of  the  five  works  of  greatest  consequence  which 
have  appeared  since  Tytler's,  only  one  has  ven- 
tured to  tread  in  the  footsteps  of  Buchanan.  The 
first  in  order  of  date  is  the  French  "Histoire 
d'Elizabeth,"  in  five  volumes,  by  Mademoiselle  de 
Keralio,  who  devotes  a  large  portion  of  her  book  to 
Mary,  and  with  a  degree  of  talent  that  does  honoui 
to  the  sex  to  which  she  belongs,  vindicates  the 
Scottish  queen  from  the  obloquy  which  her  rival, 
Elizabeth,  had  too  great  a  share  in  casting  upon 
her. — Nearly  about  the  same  time  was  published 
Dr.  Gilbert  Stuart's  "  History  of  Scotland."  It 
came  out  at  an  unfortunate  period,  for  Robertson 
had  pre-occupied  the  field ;  and  it  was  hardly  to  be 
expected  that  a  writer  of  inferior  note  would  dis- 
possess him  of  it.  But  Dr.  Stuart's  history,  though 
too  much  neglected,  is  in  many  essential  particu- 
lars superior  to  Robertson's,  not  perhaps  in  so  far 
as  regards  precision  of  style,  but  in  research,  accu- 
racy, and  impartiality.  It  would  be  wrong  to  say 
that  Stuart  has  committed  no  mistakes,  but  they  are 
certainly  fewer  and  less  glaring  than  those  of  his 
predecessor.  Towards  the  end  of  the  last  centuiy, 
Whittaker  stood  forth  as  a  champion  of  the  Queen 
of  Scots,  and  threw  into  the  literary  arena  four 
closely  printed  volumes.  They  bear  the  stamp  of 
great  industry  and  enthusiasm ;  but  his  materials 
are  not  well  digested,  and  his  violence  often  weaken* 


PREFACE.  Xlll 

his  argument.  The  praise  of  ardour,  but  not  of 
jadgment,  belongs  to  Whittaker ;  he  seems  to  have 
forgotten  that  there  may  be  bigotry  in  a  good  as 
well  as  in  a  bad  cause ;  in  his  anxiety  to  maintain 
the  truth  he  often  plunges  into  error,  and  in  his 
imdignation  at  the  virulence  of  others  he  not  unfre- 
^uently  becomes  still  more  virulent  himself.  Had 
he  abridged  his  work  by  one-third,  it  would  have 
gamed  in  force  what  it  lost  in  declamation,  and 
would  not  have  been  less  conclusive  because  less 
confused  and  verbose. — Whittaker  was  followed 
early  in  the  present  century  by  Mr.  Malcolm  Laing, 
who,  with  a  far  clearer  head,  if  not  with  a  sounder 
heart,  has  in  his  "  Preliminary  Dissertation,"  to  his 
"  History  of  Scotland,"  done  much  more  against 
Mary  than  Whittaker  has  done  for  her.  Calm,  col- 
lected, and  well  informed,  he  proceeds,  as  might 
ke  expected  from  an  adept  in  the  profession  to  which 
he  belonged,  from  one  step  of  evidence  to  another 
linking  the  whole  so  well  together  that  it  is  at  firs 
sight  extremely  difficult  to  discover  a  flaw  in  the 
chain.  Yet  flaws  there  are,  and  serious  ones 
indeed,  Mr.  Laing's  book  is  altogether  a  piece  of 
special  pleading,  not  of  unprejudiced  history.  His 
iagenuity,  however,  is  great;  and  his  arguments 
carry  with  them  such  an  air  of  sincerity,  that  they 
are  apt  to  be  believed  almost  before  the  judgment 
acknowledges  them  to  be  true.  It  is  to  be  feared, 
that  he  is  povrerful  only  to  be  dangerous, — that  he 
dazzles  only  to  mislead.  The  author  whose  two 
large  quarto  or  three  thick  octavo  volumes  brings 
up  the  rear  of  this  goodly  array  is  Mr.  George 
Chalmers.  There  was  never  a  more  careful  com 
piler, — a  more  painstaking  investigator  of  public 


I1V  PREFACE. 

and  private  records,  deeds,  and  registers, — a  more 
zealous  stickler  for  the  accuracy  of  dates,  the  fidelity 
of  witnesses,  and  the  authenticity  of  facts.  His 
work,  diffuse,  tedious,  and  ill-arranged  though  it  be, 
full  of  perpetual  repetitions,  and  abounding  in  erro- 
neous theories  (for  it  is  one  talent  to  ascertain  truth, 
and  another  to  draw  inferences),  is  nevertheless  a 
valuable  accession  to  the  stock  of  knowledge  pre- 
viously possessed  on  this  subject.  His  proofs  are 
too  disjointed  to  be  conclusive,  and  his  reasonings 
too  feeble  to  be  convincing ;  but  the  materials  are 
better  than  the  workmanship,  and  might  be  moulded 
by  a  more  skilful  hand  into  a  shape  of  much  beauty 
and  excellence. 

Such  is  an  impartial  view  of  the  chief  works 
extant  upon  Mary  Queen  of  Scots ;  and  it  would 
appear,  in  consequence,  that  something  is  still  want- 
ing to  complete  the  catalogue  Three  causes  may 
be  stated,  in  particular,  why  so  many  persons  of 
acknowledged  ability  should  have  devoted  their 
time  and  talents  to  the  investigation  without 
exhausting  it. 

First,  Several  of  the  works  we  have  named  are 
histories  ;  and  these,  professing,  as  they  do,  to  de- 
ucribe  the  character  of  a  nation  rather  than  of  an 
individual,  cannot  be  supposed  to  descend  to  those 
minutiae  or  to  enter  into  those  personal  details  ne- 
cessary for  presenting  the  vivid  portraits  in  which 
biography  delights.  History  is  more  conversant 
with  the  genus  or  the  species ;  and  is  addressed 
more  to  the  judgment  than  to  the  feelings.  There 
is  in  it  a  spirit  of  generalization,  which,  though  it 
expands  the  mind,  seldom  touches  the  heart.  Its 
views  of  human  natmre  are  on  a  comprehensive 


PREFACE.  XT 

scale ;  it  traces  the  course  of  empires  and  marks  the 
progress  of  nations.  If,  in  the  great  flood  of  events, 
it  singles  out  a  few  crowned  and  conspicuous  heads, 
making  them  the  beacons  by  which  to  guide  its 
way,  it  associates  itself  with  them  only  so  long  as 
they  continue  to  exercise  an  influence  over  the  des- 
tiny of  others.  It  is  alike  ignorant  and  careless  of 
those  circumstances  which  make  private  life  happy 
or  miserable,  and  which  exercise  an  influence  over 
the  fate  of  those  who  have  determined  that  of  so 
many  others.  Neither  Hume,  nor  Robertson,  nor 
Stuart,  nor  Keralio,  therefore,  have  said  all  of 
Mary  that  they  might  have  said ;  they  wrote  history 
— not  biography. 

Second,  Many  of  the  productions  we  have  named 
are  purely  controversial,  consisting  almost  entirely 
of  arguments  founded  upon  facts, — not  of  facts  upon 
which  to  found  arguments.  Among  these  may  be 
particularly  included,  Tytler,  Whittaker,  and  Laing, 
works  which  do  not  so  much  aim  at  illustrating  the 
life  and  character  of  Mary  as  of  settling  the  abstract 
question  of  her  guilt  or  innocence.  They  present, 
therefore,  only  such  detached  portions  of  her  history 
as  bear  upon  the  question  of  which  they  treat.  To 
become  intimately  acquainted  with  Mary  we  must 
have  recourse  to  other  authors ;  to  form  an  esti- 
mate of  her  moral  character  these  might  suffice, 
were  it  fair  to  be  guided  on  that  subject  by  the 
opinions  of  others. 

Third,  In  most  of  the  works  in  which  historical 
research  is  fully  blended  with  argumentative  deduc- 
tions, erroneous  theories  have  been  broached,  which, 
failing  to  make  good  their  object,  either  excite 
suspicion  or  lead  into  error.  Thus,  Goodall  and 


XVI  PREFACE. 

Chalmers  have  laid  it  down  as  a  principle,  that  iij 
order  to  exculpate  Mary  it  was  necessary  to  accuse 
her  brother,  the  Earl  of  Murray,  of  all  sorts  of 
crimes.  By  representing  Bothwell  as  an  inferior 
tool  in  his  hands,  they  have  involved  themselves  in 
improbabilities,  and  have  weakened  the  strength 
of  a  good  cause  by  a  mistaken  mode  of  treatment. 
Indeed  this  remark  applies  with  a  greater  or  less 
degree  of  force  to  all  the  vindications  of  Queen 
Mary  which  have  appeared.  Why  transfer  the 
burden  of  Darnley's  murder  from  Bothwell,  the 
actual  perpetiatorof  the  deed,  to  one  who  may  have 
been  accessory  to  it,  but  certainly  more  remotely  \ 
Why  confirm  the  suspicion  against  her  they  wish 
to  defend  by  unjustly  accusing  another,  whom  they 
cannot  prove  to  be  criminal?  If  Goodall  and 
Chalmers  have  done  this,  their  learning  is  com- 
paratively useless,  and  their  labour  has  been  nearly 
lost. 

If  the  author  of  the  following  "Life  of  Mary 
Queen  of  Scots,"  has  been  able  in  any  measure  to 
execute  his  own  wishes,  he  would  trust,  that  by  a 
careful  collation  of  all  the  works  to  which  he  has 
referred,  he  has  succeeded  in  separating  much  »f 
the  ore  from  the  dross,  and  in  giving  a  freshness, 
perhaps  in  one  or  two  instances  an  air  of  originality, 
to  his  production.  He  has  affected  neither  the 
insipidity  of  neutrality  nor  the  bigotry  of  party  zeal. 
His  desire  was  to  concentrate  all  that  could  kc 
known  of  Mary,  in  the  hope  that  a  light  might  thus 
be  thrown  on  the  obscurer  parts  of  his  subject  suffi- 
cient to  reanimate  the  most  indifferent  and  satisfy 
he  most  scrupulous.  He  commenced  his  readings 
with  an  unbiassed  mind,  and  was  not  aware  at  the 


PREFACE.  XVU 

•vutset  to  what  conviction  they  would  bring  him. 
But  if  a  conscientious  desire  to  disseminate  truth  be 
estimable,  it  is  hoped  that  this  desire  will  be  found 
to  characterize  these  Memoirs.  Little  more  need 
be  added.  The  biography  of  a  queen  who  lived 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago  cannot  be  like  the 
biography  of  a  contemporary  or  immediate  prede 
cessor ;  but  the  inherent  interest  of  the  subject  wil 
excuse  many  deficiencies.  Omissions  may,  per- 
haps, be  pardoned,  if  there  are  no  misrepresenta- 
tions ;  and  the  absence  of  minute  cavilling  and 
trifling  distinctions  may  not  be  complained  of,  if  the 
narrative  leads,  by  a  lucid  arrangement,  to  satisfactory 
general  deductions.  Fidelity  is  at  all  times  pre- 
ferable to  brilliancy,  and  a  sound  conclusion  10  a 
plausible  hypothesis. 


31—2 


CONTENTS 

OF 

THE    FIRST    "OLUME. 


ftp 
lirmoDUcmou SI 

CHAPTER  I. 
Scotland  and  its  Troubles  during  Mary's  Infancy 97 

CHAPTER  II. 

Scotland  and  the  Scottish  Reformers,  under  the  Regency  of  the 
Queen-dowager 39 

CHAPTER  HI. 

Mary's  Birth,  and  subsequent  Residence  at  the  French  Court,  with 
a  Sketch  of  the  State  of  Society  and  Manners  in  Prance,  during 
the  Sixteenth  Century 53 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Mary's  Marriage,  personal  Appearance,  and  Popularity 86 

CHAPTER  V. 

Mary  the  Queen-dauphiness,  the  Queen,  and  the  Queen-dowager 
of  Prance  79 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Mary's  Return  to  Scotland,  and  previous  Negotiations  with  Elizabeth    90 

CHAPTER  YD. 
Mary's  Arrival  at  Holyrood,  with  Sketches  of  her  principal  Nobility  107 

CHAPTER  Vm. 
John  Knox,  the  Reformers,  and  the  turbulent  Nobles 121 

CHAPTER  K. 
Mary's  Expedition  to  the  North 137 


KX  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  X. 

Chatelard's  imprudent  Attachment,  and  Knox'n  persevering  Hatred  153 

CHAPTER  XL 
The  domestic  Life  of  Mary,  with  some  Anecdote*  of  Elizabeth  ....  117 

CHAPTER  XII. 
4ary's  Suitors,  and  the  Machinations  of  her  Enemies IN 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
Mary's  Marriage  with  Darnley      1M 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
Murray's  Rebellion M7 

CHAPTER  XV. 

The  Earl  of  Morton's  Plot ttl 


CHAPTER  XVI. 
Ths  Assassination  of  David  Rizzio 


CHAPTER  XVD. 
fh«  Birth  of  James  VI Ml 

CHAPTER  XVIIL 

Mary's  Treatment  of  Darnley,  and  alleged  Lore  for  the  Earl  of 
Bothwell m 


INTRODUCTION. 


DURING  the  reigns  of  James  IV.  and  James  V., 
Scotland  emerged  from  barbarism  into  comparative 
civilization.  Shut  out,  as  it  had  previously  been 
from  almost  any  intercourse  with  the  rest  of  Europe, 
boln  by  the  peculiarities  of  its  situation,  and  its  in- 
cessant wars  with  England,  it  had  long  slumbered  in 
all  the  ignorance  and  darkness  of  those  remote  coun- 
tries which  even  Roman  greatness,  before  its  disso- 
lution, found  it  impossible  to  enclose  and  retain  within 
the  fortunate  pale  of  its  conquests.  The  refinement 
which  must  always  more  or  less  attend  upon  the 
person  of  a  king,  and  shelter  itself  in  the  stronghold 
of  his  court,  was  little  felt  in  Scotland.  Though 
attached,  from  long  custom,  to  the  monarchical  form 
of  government,  the  sturdy  feudal  barons,  each  pos- 
sessing a  kind  of  separate  principality  of  his  own, 
took  good  care  that  their  sovereign's  superior  influ- 
ence should  be  more  nominal  than  real.  Distracted, 
too,  by  perpetual  jealousies  among  themselves,  it  was 
only  upon  rare  occasions  that  the  nobles  would  as- 
semble peaceably  together,  to  aid  the  king  by  their 
counsel,  and  strengthen  his  authority  by  their  unani- 
mity. Hence,  there  was  no  standard  of  national 
manners, — no  means  of  fixing  and  consolidating  the 
wavering  and  turbulent  character  of  the  people. 
Each  clan  attached  itself  to  its  own  hereditary  chief- 
tain ;  and,  whatever  his  prejudices  or  follies  might 
be,  was  implicitly  subservient  to  them.  The  feuds 
and  personal  animosities  which  existed  among  the 
leaders  were  thus  invariably  transmitted  to  the  very 
humblest  of  their  retainers,  and  a  state  of  society 


22  INTRODUCTION. 

was  the  consequence  pregnant  with  civil  discord  and 
confusion,  which,  on  the  slightest  impulse,  broke  out 
into  anarchy  and  bloodshed. 

Many  reasons  have  been  assigned  why  the  evils 
of  the  feudal  system  should  have  been  more  severely 
felt  in  Scotland  than  elsewhere.  The  leading  causes, 
as  given  by  the  best  historians,  seem  to  be, — the 
geographical  nature  of  the  country,  which  made  its 
baronial  fastnesses  almost  impregnable ; — the  want 
of  large  towns,  by  which  the  vassals  of  different 
barons  were  prevented  from  mingling  together,  and 
rubbing  off,  in  the  collision,  the  prepossessions  they 
mutually  entertained  against  each  other; — the  divi 
sion  of  the  inhabitants,  not  only  into  the  followers 
of  different  chiefs  but.  into  clans,  which  resembled  so 
many  great  families,  among  all  whose  branches  a 
relationship  existed,  and  who  looked  with  jealousy 
upon  the  increasing  strength  or  wealth  of  any  other 
clan; — the  smallness  of  the  number  of  Scottish 
nobles,  a  circumstance  materially  contributing  to 
enhance  the  weight  and  dignity  of  each ; — the  fre- 
quent recourse  which  these  barons  had,  for  the  pur 
pose  of  overawing  the  crown,  to  leagues  of  mutual 
defence  with  their  equals,  or  bonds  of  reciprocal 
piotection  and  assistance  with  their  inferiors;— 
the  unceasing  wars  which  raged  between  England 
and  Scotland,  and  which  were  the  perpetual  means 
of  proving  to  the  Scottish  king  that  the  very  posses- 
sion of  his  crown  depended  upon  the  fidelity  and  obe- 
dience of  his  nobles,  whose  good-will  it  was  therefore 
necessary  to  conciliate  upon  all  occasions,  by  grant- 
ing them  whatever  they  chose  to  demand ; — and, 
lastly,  the  long  minorities  to  which  the  misfortunes 
of  its  kings  exposed  the  country  at  an  early  period 
of  its  history,  when  the  vigour  and  consistency 
commonly  attendant  upon  the  acts  of  one  mind 
were  required  more  than  any  thing  else,  but  instead 
of  which,  the  contradictory  measures  of  contending 
nobles,  or  of  regents  hastily  elected  and  as  hasti'* 


INTRODUCTION.  23 

diw>iraced,  were  sure  to  produce  an  unnatural  stagna- 
tion in  the  government,  from  which  it  could  be  re- 
deemed only  by  still  more  unnatural  convulsions. 

The  necessary  consequences  of  these  political 
grievances  were,  of  course,  felt  in  every  corner  of 
the  country.  It  is  difficult  to  form  any  accurate  esti- 
mate, or  to  draw  any  very  minute  picture  of  the  state 
of  manners  and  nicer  ramifications  of  society  at  so 
remote  a  period.  But  it  may  be  stated  generally, 
that  the  great  mass  of  the  population  was  involved 
in  poverty,  and  sunk  in  the  grossest  ignorance.  The 
Catholic  system  of  faith  and  worship,  in  its  very 
worst  form,  combined  with  the  national  superstitions 
so  prevalent  among  the  vulgar,  not  only  to  exclude 
every  idea  of  rational  religion,  but  to  produce  the 
very  lowest  state  of  mental  degradation.  Commerce 
was  comparatively  unknown — agriculture  but  im- 
perfectly understood.  If  the  wants  of  the  passing 
hour  were  supplied,  however  sparely,  the  enslaved 
vassal  was  contented, — almost  the  only  happiness 
of  his  life  consisting  in  that  animal  gratification  af- 
forded him  by  the  sports  of  the  chase,  or  the  bloodier 
diversion  of  the  field  of  battle.  Education  was 
neglected  and  despised  even  by  the  wealthy,  few 
of  whom  were  able  to  read,  and  almost  none  to 
write.  As  for  the  middle  and  lower  orders,  fragments 
of  rude  traditionary  songs  constituted  their  entire 
learning,  and  the  savage  war-dance,  inspired  by  the 
barbarous  music  of  their  native  hills,  their  principal 
amusement.  At  the  same  time,  it  is  not  to  be  sup- 
posed that  virtue  and  intelligence  were  extinct  among 
them.  There  must  be  many  exceptions  to  all  general 
rules ;  and  however  unfavourable  the  circumstances 
under  which  they  were  placed  for  calling  into  activity 
the  higher  attributes  of  man's  nature,  it  is  not  to  be 
denied,  that  their  chronicles  record,  even  in  the  lowest 
ranks,  many  bright  examples  of  patience,  perseve- 
rance, unsinking  fortitude,  and  fidelity,  founded  upon 
generous  and  exalted  attachment. 

It  has  been  said,  that  under  the  reigns  of  the  fourth 


24  INTRODUCTION. 

and  fifth  James,  the  moral  and  political  aspect  of  the 
Scotch  horizon  began  to  brighten.  This  is  to  b° 
attributed  partly  to  the  beneficial  changes  which  the 
progress  of  time  was  effecting  throughout  Europe, 
and  which  gradually  extended  themselves  to  Scot- 
land,— and  partly  to  the  personal  character  of  these 
two  monarchs.  France,  Germany,  and  England  had 
made  considerable  strides  out  of  the  gloom  of  the 
dark  ages,  even  before  the  appearance  of  Francis  I., 
Charles  V.,  and  Henry  VIII.  James  IV.,  naturally 
of  a  chivalric  and  ardent  disposition,  was  extremely 
anxious  to  advance  his  own  country  in  the  scale  of 
nations ;  and  while,  by  the  urbanity  of  his  manners, 
he  succeeded  in  winning  the  affections  of  his  nobles, 
he  contrived  also  to  find  a  place  in  the  hearts  of  his 
inferior  subjects,  even  beside  that  allotted  to  their 
own  hereditary  chieftain, — an  achievement  which 
few  of  his  predecessors  had  been  able  to  accomplish. 
The  unfortunate  battle  of  Flodden  is  a  melancholy 
record  both  of  the  vigour  of  James's  reign,  and  of 
the  national  advantages  which  his  romantic  spirit  in 
duced  him  to  risk  in  pursuit  of  the  worthless  phantom 
of  military  renown. 

James  V.  had  much  of  the  ardour  of  his  father, 
combined  with  a  somewhat  greater  share  of  pru- 
dence. He  it  was  who  first  made  any  successful 
inroads  upon  the  exorbitant  powers  of  his  nobility ; 
and  though,  upon  more  occasions  than  one,  he  was 
made  to  pay  dearly  for  his  determination  to  vindicate 
the  regal  authority,  he  was,  nevertheless,  true  to  his 
purpose  to  the  very  last.  There  seem  to  be  three 
features  in  the  reign  of  this  prince  which  particularly 
deserve  attention.  The  first  is,  the  more  extensive 
ntercourse  than  had  hitherto  subsisted,  which  he  es- 
tablished between  Scotland  and  foreign  nations, — 
particularly  with  France.  The  inexhaustible  ambi- 
tion of  Charles  V.,  which  aimed  at  universal  empire, 
and  which  probably  would  have  accomplished  its 
design  had  he  not  met  with  a  rival  so  formidable  as 
Francis  I.,  was  the  means  of  convincing  *be  oth»>- 


INTRODUCTION.  25 

states  of  Europe  that  the  only  security  for  their 
separate  independence  was  the  preservation  of  si 
balance  of  power.  Italy  was  thus  roused  into  ac- 
tivity, and  England,  under  Henry  VIII.,  took  an  ac- 
tive share  in  the  important  events  of  the  age.  To 
the  continental  powers  against  whom  that  monarch's 
strength  was  directed,  it  became  a  matter  of  no  small 
moment  to  secure  the  assistance  of  Scotland.  Both 
Francis  and  Charles,  therefore,  paid  their  court  to 
lames,  who,  finding  it  necessary  to  become  the  ally 
of  one  or  other,  prudently  rejected  the  empty  honours 
offered  him  by  the  emperor,  and  continued  faithful  to 
France.  He  went  himself  to  Paris  in  1536,  where 
he  married  Magdalene,  daughter  of  Francis.  She 
died,  however,  soon  after  his  return  home  ;  but,  de- 
termined not  to  lose  the  advantages  resulting  from  a 
French  alliance,  he  again  married,  in  the  following 
year,  Mary  of  Lorraine,  daughter  to  the  Duke  of 
Guise,  and  the  young  widow  of  the  Duke  of  Longue- 
ville.  Following  the  example  of  their  king,  most  of 
the  Scotch  nobility  visited  France,  and  as  many  as 
could  afford  it  sent  their  sons  thither  to  be  educated  ? 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  numerous  French  adven- 
turers landed  in  Scotland,  bringing  along  with  them 
some  of  the  French  arts  and  luxuries.  Thus  the 
manners  of  the  Scotch  gradually  began  to  lose  a 
little  of  that  unbending  severity  which  had  hitherto 
rendered  them  so  repulsive. 

The  second  peculiarity  in  the  reign  of  James  V. 
is  the  countenance  and  support  he  bestowed  upon 
the  clergy.  This  he  did,  not  from  any  motives  of 
bigotry,  but  solely  as  a  matter  of  sound  policy. 
He  saw  that  he  could  not  stand  alone  against  his 
nobles,  and  he  was  therefore  anxious  to  raise  into 
an  engine  of  power  a  body  of  men  whose  inter- 
ests he  thus  identified  with  his  own.  It  is  re- 
markable, that  even  in  the  most  flourishing  days  of 
Catholicism,  when  the  pope's  ecclesiastical  authority 
extended  itself  every  where,  Scotland  alone  was 


26  INTRODUCTION. 

overlooked.  The  king  was  there  always  the  heart 
of  the  church,  in  so  far  as  regarded  all  ecclesiastical 
appointments ;  and  the  patronage  of  his  bishopricks 
and  abbeys  was  no  slight  privilege  to  the  Scottish 
monarch,  denied  as  it  was  to  other  kings  of  more  ex- 
tensive temporal  jurisdiction.  James  converted  into 
benefices  several  of  the  forfeited  estates  of  his  rebel- 
lious nobles,  and  raised  the  clergy  to  a  pitch  of  au- 
tlrority  they  had  never  before  possessed  in  Scotland. 
He  acted  upon  principle,  and  perhaps  judiciously; 
but  he  was  not  aware  that  by  thus  surrounding  his 
priests  with  wealth  and  luxury,  he  was  paving  the 
way  for  their  utter  destruction,  and  a  new  and  better 
order  of  things. 

It  will  be  useful  to  observe,  as  the  third  character- 
istic of  this  reign,  the  encouragement  James  gave  to 
.he  arts  and  sciences.  For  the  first  time,  education 
began  to  take  some  form  and  system.  He  gave 
stability  to  the  universities,  and  was  careful  to 
select  for  them  the  best  teachers.  He  was  fond  of 
drawing  to  his  court  men  of  learning  and  genius. 
He  was  himself  a  poet  of  considerable  ability.  He 
had  likewise  devoted  much  of  his  attention  to  ar- 
chitecture— his  fondness  for  which  elegant  study  was 
testified  by  his  anxiety  to  repair,  or  rebuild,  most  of 
the  royal  palaces.  He  established  also  on  a  perma- 
nent footing  the  court  of  session,  or  college  of  jus- 
tice ;  and  though  his  reign,  as  a  whole,  was  not  a 
happy  one,  it  probably  redounded  more  to  the  advan- 
tage of  his  countiy  than  that  of  any  of  his  predecessors. 

At  his  death,  which  took  place  in  1542,  at  the  early 
age  of  30,  accelerated  by  the  distress  of  mind  occa- 
sioned by  the  voluntary  defeats  which  his  refractory 
nobles  allowed  themselves  to  sustain,  both  at  Falla 
and  Solway  Moss,  Scotland  speedily  fell  into  a  state 
of  confusion  and  civil  war.  The  events  which  fol- 
'owed  are  indissolubly  connected  with  the  subject  of 
these  Memoirs,  and  are  related  at  length  in  the  sue 
ueeding  pages. 


LIFE 

OF 

MARY  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Scotland  and  its  Troubles  dunng  Mary's  Infancy. 

JAMES  V.  left,  as  an  inheritance  to  his  kingdom,  an 
expensive  and  destructive  war  with  England.  He 
likewise  left  what,  under  such  circumstances,  was  a 
very  questionable  advantage,  a  treasury  well  stored 
with  gold,  and  a  coinage  in  good  condition,  produced 
from  the  mines  which  he  had  worked  in  Scotland. 
The  foreign  relations  of  the  country  demanded  the 
utmost  attention ;  but  the  long  minority  necessarily 
ensuing,  as  Mary,  his  only  surviving  lawful  child,  was 
but  a  few  days  old  when  James  died,  awakened  hopes 
and  wishes  in  the  ambitious  which  superseded  all 
other  considerations.  For  a  time  England  was  for- 
gotten ;  and  the  prize  of  the  regency  became  a  bone 
of  civil  contention  and  discord. 

There  were  three  persons  who  aspired  to  that  office, 
and  the  pretensions  of  each  had  their  supporters,  as 
interest  or  reason  might  dictate.  The  first  was  the 
queen-dowagei,  a  lady  who  inherited  many  of  the 
peculiar  virtues,  as  well  as  some  of  the  failings,  of 
the  illustrious  house  of  Guise,  to  which  she  belonged. 
She  possessed  a  bold  and  masculine  understanding, 
a  perseverance  to  overcome  difficulties,  and  a  forti- 

T._f7 


28  LIFE    OF    MARY 

tude  to  bear  up  against  misfortunes,  not  often  met 
with  among  her  sex.  She  was  indeed  superior  to 
most  of  the  weaknesses  of  the  female  character;  and 
having,  from  her  earliest  years,  deeply  studied  the 
science  of  government,  she  felt  herself,  so  far  as 
mere  political  tactics  and  diplomatic  acquirements 
were  concerned,  able  to  cope  with  the  craftiest  of  the 
Scotch  nobility.  Besides,  her  intimate  connexion 
with  the  French  court,  coupled  with  the  interest  she 
might  naturally  be  supposed  to  take  in  the  affairs  of 
a  country  over  which  her  husband  had  reigned,  and 
which  was  her  daughter's  inheritance,  seemed  to  give 
her  a  claim  of  the  strongest  kind. 

The  second  aspirant  was  Cardinal  David  Beaton, 
at  that  time  the  undoubted  head  of  the  Catholic  party 
in  Scotland.  He  was  a  man  whose  abilities  all 
allowed,  and  who,  had  he  been  less  tinctured  with 
severity,  and  less  addicted  to  the  exclusive  principles 
of  the  church  of  Rome,  might  probably  have  filled 
with  tclat  the  very  highest  rank  in  the  state.  He 
endeavoured  to  strengthen  his  title  to  the  regency 
by  producing  the  will  of  James  V.  in  his  favour.  But 
as  this  will  was  dated  only  a  short  while  before  the 
king's  death,  it  was  suspected  that  the  prelate  had 
himself  written  it,  and  obtained  the  king's  signature, 
at  a  time  when  his  bodily  weakness  had  impaired  his 
mental  faculties.  Beaton  was,  moreover,  from  his 
violence  and  rigour,  particularly  obnoxious  to  all 
those  who  favoured  the  Reformation. 

James  Hamilton,  Earl  of  Arran,  and  next  heir  to 
the  throne,  was  the  third  candidate,  and  the  person 
upon  whom  the  choice  of  the  people  ultimately  fell. 
In  more  settled  times,  this  choice  might  possibly 
have  been  judicious;  but  Arran.  was  of  far  too  weak 
and  irresolute  a  character  to  be  able  to  regulate  the 
government  with  that  decision  and  firmness  which 
the  existing  emergency  required.  He  had  few  opin- 
ions of  his  own,  and  was  continually  driven  hither 
and  thither  by  the  contradictory  counsels  of  those 


UUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  29 

who  surrounded  him.  He  had  joined,  however,  the 
reformed  religion ;  and  this,  together  with  the  inof- 
fensive softness  of  his  disposition,  made  him,  in  the 
eyes  of  many,  only  the  more  fit  to  govern. 

The  annexation  of  Scotland  to  the  crown  of  Eng- 
land, either  by  conquest  or  the  more  amicable  means 
of  marriage,  had  for  many  years  been  the  object 
nearest  the  heart  of  Henry  VIII.  and  several  of  his 
predecessors.  That  his  father,  in  particular,  Henry 
VII.,  had  given  some  thought  to  this  subject,  is 
evident  from  the  answer  he  made  to  such  of  his 
privy  council  as  were  unwilling  that  he  should  give 
his  daughter  Margaret  in  marriage  to  James  IV.,  on 
the  ground  that  the  English  crown  might,  through 
that  marriage,  devolve  to  a  king  of  Scotland. 
"Whereunto  the  king  made  answer, and  said, 'What 
then !  for  if  any  such  thing  should  happen  (which 
God  forbid),  yet  I  see  our  kingdom  should  take  no 
harm  thereby,  because  England  should  not  be  added 
unto  Scotland,  but  Scotland  unto  England,  as  to  the 
far  most  noble  head  of  the  whole  island;  for  so 
much  as  it  is  always  so,  that  the  lesser  is  wont,  for 
honour's  sake,  to  be  adjoined  to  that  which  is  far 
the  greater.'"*  How  correct  Henry  VII.  was  in 
his  opinion,  the  accession  of  James  VI.  sufficiently 
proved. 

Henry  VIII.,  though  aiming  at  the  same  object  as 
his  father,  thought  it  more  natural  that  Scotland 
should  accept  of  an  English,  than  England  of  a  Scot- 
tish king.  Immediately,  therefore,  after  the  birth  of 
Mary,  he  determined  upon  straining  every  nerve  to 
secure  her  for  his  son  Edward.  For  this  purpose,  he 
concluded  a  temporary  peace  with  the  regent  Arran, 
and  sent  back  into  Scotland  the  numerous  prisoners 
who  had  surrendered  themselves  at  Solway  Moss, 
upon  an  understanding  that  they  should  do  all  they 

*  Polydore,  lib.  26,  quoted  by  Leslie—"  Defence  of  Mary's  Hmour 
preface,  p  xir  — Apud  Anderson,  vol.  i. 


30  LIFE    OF    MARY 

could  to  second  his  views  with  their  countrymen. 
His  first  proposals,  however,  were  so  extravagant, 
that  the  Scottish  parliament  would  not  listen  to  them 
for  a  moment.  He  demanded  not  only  that  the  young 
queen  should  be  sent  into  England,  to  be  educated 
under  his  own  superintendence,  but  that  he  himself, 
as  her  future  father-in-law,  should  be  allowed  an 
active  share  in  the  government  of  Scotland.  Having 
subsequently  consented  to  depart  considerably  from 
the  haughty  tone  in  which  these  tenns  were  dictated, 
a  treaty  of  marriage  was  agreed  upon  at  the  instiga- 
tion of  Arran,  whom  Henry  had  won  to  his  interests, 
in  which  it  was  promised,  that  Mary  should  be  sent 
into  England  at  the  age  of  ten,  and  that  six  persons 
of  rank  should,  in  the  mean  time,  be  delivered  as 
hostages  for  the  fulfilment  of  this  promise. 

It  may  easily  be  conceived,  that  whatever  the  re- 
gent, together  with  some  of  the  reformed  nobility 
and  their  partisans,  might  think  of  this  treaty,  the 
queen-mother  and  Cardinal  Beaton,  who  had  for  the 
present  formed  a  coalition,  could  not  be  very  well 
satisfied  with  it.  Henry,  with  all  the  hasty  violence 
of  his  nature,  had,  in  a  fit  of  spleen,  espoused  the 
reformed  opinions ;  and  if  Mary  became  the  wife  of 
his  son,  it  was  evident  that  all  the  interests  both  of 
the  house  of  Guise  and  of  the  Catholic  religion  in 
Scotland  would  suffer  a  fatal  blow.  By  their  forci- 
ble representations  of  the  inevitable  ruin  which  they 
alleged  this  alliance  would  bring  upon  Scotland,  con- 
verting it  into  a  mere  province  of  their  ancient  and 
inveterate  enemies,  and  obliging  it  to  renounce  for 
ever  the  friendship  of  their  constant  allies  the  French, 
they  succeeded  in  effecting  a  change  in  public  opin- 
:on;  and  the  result  was,  that  Arran  found  himself  at 
length  obliged  to  yield  to  their  superior  influence,  to 
deliver  up  to  the  cardinal  and  Mary  of  Lorraine  the 
young  queen,  and  refuse  to  ratifv  ttie  engagements 
he  had  entered  into  with  Henry.  Tne  cardinal  now 
carried  every  thing  before  him,  having  converted  or 


QUEEX    OF    SCOTS.  31 

intimidated  almost  all  his  enemies.  The  Earl  of 
Lennox  alone,  a  nobleman  whose  pretensions  were 
greater  than  his  power,  could  not  forgive  Beaton  for 
having  used  him  merely  as  a  cat's-paw  in  his  intrigues 
to  gain  the  ascendency  over  Arran.  Lennox  had 
himself  aspired  at  the  regency,  alleging  that  his  title 
as  presumptive  heir  to  the  crown,  was  a  more  legiti- 
mate one  than  that  of  the  house  of  Hamilton,  to 
which  Arran  belonged.  But  the  still  more  ambi- 
tious cardinal  flattered  only  to  deceive  him;  and 
when  Lennox  considered  his  success  certain,  he 
ibund  himself  further  from  the  object  of  his  wishes 
than  ever. 

Seeing  every  other  hope  vain,  Lennox  set  on  foot 
«i  secret  correspondence  with  Henry,  promising  that 
monarch  his  best  support,  should  he  determine  upon 
avenging  the  insult  he  had  sustained  through  the 
vacillating  conduct  of  the  Scotch.  Henry  gladly 
availed  himself  of  the  offer,  and  sent  a  considerable 
force  under  the  Earl  of  Hartford  to  the  north,  by 
sea,  which,  having  landed  at  Leith,  and  plundered 
that  place,  as  well  as  the  neighbouring  city  of  Edin- 
burgh, again  took  its  departure  for  England,  without 
attempting  to  penetrate  farther  into  the  country. 
This  was  an  unprofitable  and  ill-advised  expedition, 
for  it  only  tended  to  exasperate  the  minds  of  the 
Scotch,  without  being  of  any  service  to  Henry.  The 
Earl  of  Huntly  well  remarked  concerning  it,  that 
even  although  he  might  have  had  no  objections  to 
the  proposed  match,  he  had  a  most  especial  dislike 
to  the  manner  of  wooing. 

The  Earl  of  Lennox  now  found  himself  deserted 
in  the  midst  of  his  former  friends,  and  went  prudently 
into  voluntary  exile,  by  retiring  into  England.  Here 
Henry,  in  reward  of  his  former  services,  gave  him 
his  niece,  the  Lady  Margaret  Douglas,  in  marriage. 
She  was  the  daughter,  by  the  second  marriage,  of 
Henry's  sister,  the  Lady  Margaret,  wife  of  James 
IV.,  who,  after  the  king's  death,  espoused  Archibald 


32  LIFE    OF    MARY 

Earl  of  Angus.  By  this  alliance,  Lennox,  though  it 
was  impossible  for  him  to  foresee  such  a  result,  be- 
came tiie  father  of  Henry  Darnley,  and  a  long  line 
of  kings. 

Shortly  afterward,  an  event  well  known  in  Scot 
tish  history,  and  which  was  accomplished  by  means 
only  too  frequently  resorted  to  in  those  unsettled 
times,  facilitated  the  conclusion  of  a  short  peace 
with  England.  Cardinal  Beaton,  elevated  by  his 
success,  and  anxious,  now  that  all  more  immediate 
danger  was  removed,  to  re-establish  on  a  firmer  basis 
the  tottering  authority  of  the  Romish  church,  deter- 
mined upon  striking  awe  into  the  people  by  some 
memorable  examples  of  severity  towards  heretics. 
About  the  end  of  the  year  1545,  he  made  a  progress 
through  several  parts  of  his  diocess,  accompanied  by 
the  Earl  of  Argyle,  who  was  then  lord  justice  gene- 
ral, and  other  official  persons,  for  the  purpose  of 
trying  and  punishing  offenders  against  the  laws  of 
the  church.  At  Perth,  several  of  the  lieges  were 
found  guilty  of  arguing  or  disputing  concerning  the 
sense  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  in  opposition  to  an  act 
of  parliament  which  forbade  any  such  freedom  of 
speech,  and  five  men  and  one  woman  were  con- 
demned to  die.  Great  intercession  was  made  for 
them,  but  in  vain;  the  men  were  hanged,  and  the 
woman  was  drowned.  Still  further  to  intimidate 
the  Reformers,  a  yet  more  memorable  instance  of 
religious  persecution  and  cruelty  was  presented  to 
them  a  few  months  afterward.  George  Wishart  was 
at  this  time  one  of  the  most  learned  and  zealous  of 
all  the  supporters  of  the  new  doctrines  in  Scotland. 
He  had  been  educated  at  the  university  of  Cambridge, 
and  had  in  his  youth  officiated  as  one  of  the  masters 
of  the  grammar-school  at  Montrose.  His  talents 
and  perseverance  rendered  him  particularly  obnox- 
ious to  the  cardinal,  who,  having  contrived  to  make 
him  his  prisoner,  carried  him  to  his  castle  at  St.  An 
drews.  An  ecclesiastical  court  was  there  assembled, 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  33 

at  which  Wishart  was  sentenced  to  be  burnt.  It 
may  give  us  a  clearer  idea  of  the  spirit  of  the  times 
to  know,  that  on  the  day  on  which  this  sentence  was 
to  be  put  in  execution,  Beaton  issued  a  proclamation, 
forbidding  any  one,  under  pain  of  church  censure,  to 
offer  up  prayers  for  so  notorious  a  heretic.  When 
Wishart  was  brought  to  the  stake,  and  after  the  fire 
had  been  kindled,  and  was  already  beginning  to  take 
effect,  it  is  said  that  he  turned  his  eyes  towards  a 
window  in  the  castle  overlaid  with  tapestry,  at  which 
the  cardinal  was  sitting,  viewing  with  complacency 
the  unfortunate  man's  suffering,  and  exclaimed,  "He, 
who,  from  yonder  high  place,  beholdeth  me  with  such 
pride,  shall,  within  few  days,  be  in  as  much  shame 
as  now  he  is  seen  proudly  to  rest  himself."  These 
words,  though  they  met  with  little  attention  at  the 
time,  were  spoken  of  afterward  as  an  evident  and 
most  remarkable  prophecy. 

It  was  not  long  after  this  martyrdom,  that  Cardinal 
Beaton  was  present  at  the  marriage  of  one  of  his  o\vn 
illegitimate  daughters,  to  whom  he  gave  a  dowry  of 
4000  merks,  and  whose  nuptials  were  solemnized 
with  great  magnificence.  Probably  he  conceived, 
that  the  more  heretics  he  burned,  the  more  unblusn- 
ingly  he  might  confess  his  own  sins  against  bovh 
religion  and  common  morality. 

On  the  prelate's  return  to  St.  Andrews,  Norm«n 
Lesly,  a  young  man  of  strong  passions,  and  eldest 
son  to  the  Earl  of  Rothes,  came  to  him  to  demand 
some  favour,  which  the  cardinal  thought  proper  to 
refuse.  The  particulars  of  the  quarrel  are  not.  pre- 
cisely known,  but  it  must  have  been  of  a  serious 
kind;  for  Lesly,  taking  advantage  of  the  popular 
feeling  which  then  existed  against  the  cardinal,  de- 
termined upon  seeking  his  own  revenge  by  the  assas- 
sination of  Beaton.  He  associated  with  himself 
several  accomplices,  who  undertook  to  second  him 
in  this  design.  Early  on  the  morning  of  the  29th  of 
May,  1546,  having  entered  the  castle  by  the  gat* 
31—3 


34  LIFE    OF    MARY 

which  was  open  to  admit  some  workmen  who  were 
repairing  the  fortifications,  he  and  his  assistants  pro- 
ceeded to  the  door  of  the  cardinal's  chamber,  at  which 
they  knocked.  Beaton  asked,  "Who  is  there !" — 
Norman  answered,  "My  name  is  Lesly," — adding, 
that  the  door  must  be  opened  to  him  and  those  that 
were  with  him.  Beaton  now  began  to  fear  the  worst, 
and  attempted  to  secure  the  door.  But  Lesly  called 
for  fire  to  burn  it,  upon  which  the  cardinal,  seeing  all 
resistance  useless,  permitted  them  to  enter.  They 
found  him  sitting  on  a  chair,  pale  and  agitated ;  and 
as  they  approached  him  he  exclaimed,  "  I  am  a  priest 
— ye  will  not  slay  me  ?"  Lesly,  however,  losing  ail 
command  of  his  temper,  struck  him  more  than  once, 
and  would  have  proceeded  to  further  indignities,  had 
not  James  Melville,  one  of  the  assassins,  "  a  man," 
says  Knox, "  of  nature  most  gentle  and  most  modest," 
drawn  his  sword,  and  presenting  the  point  to  the  car- 
dinal, advised  him  to  repent  of  his  sins ;  informing 
him,  at  the  same  time,  that  no  hatred  he  bore  his, 
person,  but  simply  his  love  of  true  religion,  induced 
him  to  take  part  against  one  whom  he  looked  upon 
as  an  enemy  to  the  Gospel.  So  saying,  and  without 
waiting  for  an  answer,  he  stabbed  him  twice  or  thrice 
through  the  body.  When  his  friends  and  servants 
collected  without,  the  conspirators  lifted  up  the  de- 
ceased prelate,  and  showed  him  to  them  from  the 
very  window  at  which  he  had  sat  at  the  day  of  Wish- 
art's  execution.  Beaton  at  the  time  of  his  death 
was  fifty-two.  He  had  long  been  one  of  the  leading 
men  in  Scotland,  and  had  enjoyed  the  favour  of  the 
French  king,  as  well  as  that  of  his  own  sovereign 
James  V.  Some  attempt  was  made  by  the  regent 
to  punish  his  murderers,  but  they  finally  escaped  into 
France.* 

*  Knox  seems  not  only  to  justify  (he  assassination  of  Cardinal  Beaton, 
but  to  hint  that  it  wool/*,  have  been  proper  to  have  disposed  of  his  suo 
sessor  in  the  same  way.  "  Thes»,"  says  he,  "  are  the  work*  of  our  God, 
whereby  he  would  admonish  the  tyrants  of  this  earth  that,  in  the  end 


ftUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  35 

There  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  Henry  VIII. 
sfecretly  encouraged  Lesly  and  his  associates  in  this 
dishonest  entei  prise.  But,  if  such  be  the  case,  that 
monarch  did  not  live  long  enough  to  reap  the  fruits 
of  its  success.  He  died  only  a  few  months  later  than 
the  cardinal ;  and  about  the  same  time  his  contem- 
porary Francis  I.  was  succeeded  on  his  throne  by 
his  son  Henry  II.  These  changes  did  not  materially 
affect  the  relative  situation  of  Scotland.  They  may, 
perhaps,  have  opened  up  still  higher  hopes  to  the 
queen-dowager  and  the  French  party ;  but,  in  Eng- 
land, the  Duke  of  Somerset,  who  had  been  appointed 
lord  protector  during  the  minority  of  Edward  VI., 
was  determined  upon  following  out  the  plans  of  the 
late  monarch,  and  compelling  the  Scotch  to  agree  to 
the  alliance  which  he  had  proposed. 

In  prosecution  of  his  designs,  he  marched  a  pow- 
erful army  into  Scotland,  and  the  result  was  the  un 
fortunate  battle  of  Pinkie.  The  Earl  of  Arran 
whose  exertions  to  rescue  the  country  from  this 
new  aggression  were  warmly  seconded  by  the  peo 
pie,  collected  a  force  sufficiently  numerous  to  enable 
him  to  meet  and  offer  battle  to  Somerset.  The  Eng- 
lish camp  was  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Prestonpans-, 
and  the  Scotch  took  up  very  advantageous  ground 
about  Musselburgh  and  Inveresk.  Military  discipline 
was  at  that  time  but  little  understood  in  this  country ; 
and  the  reckless  impetuosity  of  the  Scotch  infantry 
was  usually  attended  either  with  immediate  success, 
or,  by  throwing  the  whole  battle  into  confusion,  with 
irretrievable  and  signal  defeat.  The  weapons  to 
which  they  principally  trusted  were,  in  the  first 
place,  the  pike,  with  which,  upon  joining  with  the 
enemy,  all  the  fore  rank,  standing  shoulder  to  shoulder 

he  will  be  revenged  of  their  cruelty,  what  strength  soever  they  make  in 
tbe  contrary.  list  such  is  the  blindness  of  man,  as  David  speaks,  that 
the  posterity  does  ever  follow  the  footsteps  of  their  wicked  fathers,  and 
principally  in  their  impiety:  for  how  little  differs  the  cruelty  of  that 
bastard  thai  yet  is  called  Bishop  of  St.  Andrews  from  the  cruelty  of  (he 
'ormer,  we  will  after  hear." — Knox's  Hist,  of  the  Reformation,  p.  65. 


36  LIFE    OF    MARY 

together,  thrust  straight  forward,  those  who  stood 
in  the  second  rank  putting  their  pikos  over  the 
shoulders  of  their  comrades  before  them.  The 
length  of  these  pikes  or  spears  was  eighteen  feet  six 
inches.  They  seem  to  have  been  used  principally 
on  the  first  onset,  and  were  probably  speedily  relin 
quished  for  the  more  efficient  exercise  of  the  sword, 
which  was  broad  and  thin,  and  of  excellent  temper. 
It  was  employed  to  cut  or  slice  with,  not  to  thrust ; 
and,  in  defence  against  any  similar  weapon  of  the 
enemy,  a  large  handkerchief  was  wrapped  twice  or 
thrice  about  the  neck,  and  a  buckler  invariably  carried 
on  the  left  arm.* 

For  some  days  the  two  armies  continued  in  sight 
of  each  other,  without  coming  to  any  general  en- 
gagement. The  hourly  anxiety  which  prevailed  at 
Edinburgh  regarding  the  result  may  be  easily  ima- 
gined. To  inspire  the  soldiers  with  the  greater 
courage,  it  was  enacted  by  government  that  the 
heirs  of  those  who  fell  upon  this  occasion  in  defence 
of  their  country  should  for  five  years  be  free  from 
government  taxes,  and  the  usual  assessments  levied 
by  landlords.  At  length,  on  Saturday,  the  10th  of 
September,  1547,  the  Scotch,  misled  by  a  motion  in 
the  English  army,  which  they  conceived  indicated  a 
design  to  retreat,  rashly  left  their  superior  situation, 
and  crossing  the  mouth  of  the  Esk  at  Musselburgh, 
gave  the  protector  battle  in  the  fields  of  Pinkie,  an 
adjoining  country-seat.  They  were  thus  so  exposed, 
that  the  English  fleet,  which  lay  in  the  bay,  was  ena- 
bled, by  firing  upon  their  flank,  to  do  them  much  mis- 
chief. The  Earl  of  Angus,  who  was  leading  the 
vanguard,  found  himself  suddenly  assailed  by  a  flight 
of  arrows,  a  raking  fire  from  a  regiment  or  two  of 
foreign  fusileers,  and  a  discharge  of  cannon  which 
unexpectedly  opened  upon  him.  Unable  to  advance, 
he  attempted  to  change  his  position  for  a  more  ad- 

*  DalyelPs  "  Fragments  of  Scottish  History  " 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  37 

vantageous  one.  The  main  body  imagined  he  was 
falling  back  upon  them  in  confusion ;  and  to  heighten 
their  panic,  a  vigorous  charge,  which  was  at  this 
moment  made  by  the  English  cavalry,  decided  the 
fortune  of  the  day.  After  a  feeble  resistance  the 
Scotch  fled  towards  Dalkeith,  Edinburgh,  and  Leith, 
and  being  hotly  pursued  by  their  enemies,  all  the 
three  roads  were  strewed  with  the  dead  and  dying. 
In  this  battle  the  Earl  of  Arran  lost  upwards  of 
8090  men ;  among  whom  were  Lord  Fleming, 
together  with  many  other  Scotch  noblemen  and 
gentlemen. 

The  English  army  advanced  immediately  upon 
Leith,  which  they  took  and  pillaged ;  and  would  have 
entered  Edinburgh,  had  they  not  found  it  impossible 
to  make  themselves  masters  of  the  castle.  The  fleet 
ravaged  the  towns  and  villages  on  the  coasts  of  the 
Forth,  and  proceeded  as  far  north  as  the  River  Tay, 
seizing  on  whatever  shipping  they  could  meet  with 
in  the  harbours  by  which  they  passed. 

Far,  however,  from  obtaining  by  these  violent 
measures,  the  ultimate  object  of  his  desires,  Somerset 
found  himself  further  from  his  point  than  ever.  The 
Scotch,  enraged  against  England,  threw  themselves 
into  the  arms  of  France ;  and  the  protector,  under- 
standing that  affairs  in  the  south  had  fallen  into  con- 
fusion in  his  absence,  was  obliged  to  return  home, 
leaving  strong  garrisons  in  Haddington,  and  one  or 
two  other  places  which  he  had  captured.  The  Earl 
of  Arran  and  Mary  of  Guise  sent  immediate  intelli- 
gence to  Henry  II.  of  all  that  had  taken  place ;  and, 
sanctioned  by  the  Scottish  parliament,  offered  to 
conclude  a  treaty  of  marriage  between  his  infant  son, 
the  dauphin  Francis,  and  the  young  Scottish  queen. 
They  moreover  agreed  to  send  Mary  into  France, 
to  be  educated  at  the  French  court,  until  such  time  as 
the  nuptials  could  be  solemnized.  This  proposal  was 
every  way  acceptable  to  Henry,  who,  like  his  father 
Francis,  perfectly  understood  the  importance  of  a 


39  LIFE    OF    MARY 

close  alliance  with  Scotland,  as  the  most  efficient 
means  for  preventing  the  English  from  invading  his 
own  dominions.  He  sent  over  an  army  of  6000 
men  to  the  aid  of  the  regent;  and  in  the  same  ves- 
sels which  brought  these  troops,  Mary  was  conveyed 
from  Dumbarton  into  France.  Henry  also,  with 
much  sound  policy,  in  order  to  strengthen  his  inter- 
ests in  Scotland,  bestowed,  about  this  time,  upon  the 
Earl  of  Arran,  the  title  of  the  Duke  of  Chatelherault, 
together  with  a  pension  of  some  value.  During  a 
period  of  two  years,  a  continual  series  of  skirmish- 
ings were  carried  on  between  the  Scotch,  supported 
by  their  French  allies,  and  the  English ;  but  without 
bay  results  of  much  consequence  on  either  side.  In 
1550,  a  general  peace  was  concluded ;  and  the 
marriage  of  the  Scottish  queen  was  never  after- 
ward made  the  ground  of  war  between  the  two 
countries. 

From  this  period  till  Mary's  return  to  her  own 
country,  the  attention  of  Scotland  was  entirely  en- 
grossed with  its  own  affairs,  and  the  various  im- 
portant events  connected  with  the  rise,  progress,  and 
establishment  of  the  Reformation.  As  these  effected 
no  slight  change  in  the  political  aspect  of  the  coun- 
try, and  exercised  a  material  influence  over  Mary's 
future  destiny,  it  will  be  proper  to  give  some  ac- 
count of  them  in  this  place ;  and  these  details  being 
previously  gone  through,  the  narrative,  in  so  fai 
as  regards  Queen  Mary,  will  thus  be  preserved  un- 
broken. 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Scotland  attd  the  Scottish  Reformers  under  the  Regency  of  the 
Queen-dowager. 

IT  was  in  the  year  1517  that  Luther  first  stated  his 
objections  to  the  validity  of  the  indulgences  granted 
so  liberally  by  Pope  Leo  X.  From  this  year  those 
who  love  to  trace  causes  to  their  origin,  date  the 
epoch  of  the  Reformation.  It  was  not,  however,  til! 
a  considerably  later  period,  that  the  new  doctrines 
took  any  deep  root  in  Scotland.  In  1552,  the  Duke 
of  Chatelherault,  wearied  with  the  fatigues  of  govern- 
ment, and  provoked  at  the  opposition  he  was  con- 
tinually meeting  with,  resigned  the  regency  in  favour 
of  the  queen-mother.  Mary  of  Guise,  by  a  visit  she 
had  shortly  before  paid  to  the  French  court,  had 
paved  the  way  for  this  accession  of  power.  Her 
brothers,  the  Duke  of  Guise  and  Cardinal  of  Lor- 
raine, were  far  from  being  satisfied  with  the  state  of 
parties  in  Scotland.  Chatelherault  they  knew  to  be 
of  a  weak  and  fluctuating  disposition ;  and  it  seemed 
to  them  necessary,  both  for  the  preservation  of  the 
ancient  religion  and  to  secure  the  allegiance  of  the 
country  to  their  niece,  the  young  queen,  that  a 
stronger  hand,  guided  by  a  sounder  head,  should  hold 
the  reins  of  the  state.  Upon  their  sister's  fidelity 
they  knew  they  could  depend ;  and  it  was  principally 
through  the  influence  of  French  gold  and  French 
intrigue  that  she  was  placed  in  the  regency. 

The  inhabitants  of  Scotland  were  at  this  time 
divided  into  two  great  classes, — those  who  were  still 
stanch  to  the  church  of  Rome,  and  those  who  were 
determined  on  effecting  a  reformation.  At  the  head 
of  the  former  was  John  Hamilton,  Archbishop  of  $ 


40  LIFE    OF   MARY 

Andrews,  who,  upon  the  murder  of  Cardinal  Beaton, 
had  obtained  that  appointment  through  the  Duke  of 
Chatelherault,  whose  natural  brother  he  was.  He 
was  greatly  the  duke's  superior  in  courage  and  sa- 
gacity, anfl  was  deeply  imbued  with  the  prelatical 
•spirit  of  ambition  then  so  prevalent.  The  resignation 
of  the  regency  provoked  him  exceedingly,  the  more 
especially  as  Mary,  to  strengthen  her  own  authority, 
found  it  necessary  at  first  to  treat  the  Reformers 
mildly.  He  was  consoled,  however,  by  the  death 
of  Edward  VI.  in  1553,  and  the  accession  of  the 
young  king's  eldest  sister  Mary  to  the  English 
throne, — as  bigoted  and  determined  a  Catholic  as 
ever  lived. 

The  man  who  had  placed  himself  at  the  head  of 
the  Reformers,  and  who,  although  young,  had  already 
given  Hamilton  and  his  party  good  cause  to  tremble 
at  his  increasing  authority,  was  James  Stuart,  the 
eldest  of  Mary's  three  illegitimate  brothers,  and  one 
who  occupies  a  most  important  station  in  the  history 
of  his  country.  His  father  made  him,  when  only 
seven  years  old,  Prior  or  Commendator  of  St.  An- 
drews, an  office  which  entitled  him,  though  a  layman, 
to  the  full  income  arising  from  that  rich  benefice.  It 
was  soon  discovered,  however,  that  he  had  views  far 
beyond  so  comparatively  humble  a  rank.  Even 
when  a  boy,  it  was  his  ambition  to  collect  around 
him  associates  who  were  devoted  to  his  service  and 
desires.  He  went  over  with  Mary  to  France  in  1548, 
but  remained  there  only  a  very  short  time  ;  and  at 
the  age  of  twenty-one  he  was  already  looked  up  to 
by  the  Scottish  Reformers  as  their  chief.  His  know- 
ledge was  extensive,  and  considerably  in  advance  of 
the  times  in  which  he  lived.  His  personal  bravery 
was  undoubted,  and  his  skill  in  arms  so  great,  that 
few  of  his  military  enterprises  were  unsuccessful. 
His  passions,  if  they  were  strong,  seem  also  to  have 
been  deep,  and  entirely  under  his  own  command. 
Whatever  may  he  thought  of  the  secret  motives 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  4. 

which  actuated  him,  he  was  seldom  betrayed  into  any 
symptoms  of  apparent  violence.  He  thus  contrived 
to  hold  a  steady  course,  amid  all  the  turbulence  and 
convulsions  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived  ;  while  the 
external  decorum  and  propriety  of  his  manners,  so 
different  from  the  ill-concealed  dissoluteness  of 
many  of  his  contemporaries,  endeared  him  the  more 
to  the  stern  followers  of  Luther.  It  is  curious  to 
observe  the  very  opposite  views  which  different  his- 
torians have  taken  of  his  character,  more  especially 
when  they  come  to  speak  of  him  as  the  Earl  of 
Murray  and  the  Regent  of  Scotland.  It  would  be. 
improper  and  unnecessary  to  anticipate  these  dis 
cussions  at  present,  since  it  is  hoped  the  reader  wiF 
be  able  to  form  his  own  estimate  upon  this  sub- 
ject from  the  facts  he  will  find  recorded  in  these 
Memoirs. 

It  must  be  evident,  that  with  two  such  men,  each 
*vt  the  head  of  his  own  party,  the  country  was  not 
likely  to  continue  long  in  a  state  of  quietness.  The 
queen-regent  soon  found  it  necessary,  at  the  instiga- 
tion of  the  French  court,  to  associate  herself  with 
the  Archbishop  of  St.  Andrews;  in  opposition  to 
vrhich  coalition,  a  bond  was  drawn  up,  in  1557,  by 
some  of  the  principal  Reformers,  in  which  they  an- 
nounced their  resolution  to  form  an  independent  con- 
gregation of  their  own,  and  to  separate  themselves 
entirely  from  the  "  congregation  of  Satan,  with  all 
the  superstitious  abomination  and  idolatry  thereof." 
Articles,  or  Heads  of  a  Reformation,  were  soon  after- 
ward published,  in  which  it  was  principally  insisted, 
that  on  Sunday  and  other  festival  days  the  common- 
prayer  should  be  read  openly  in  the  parish  churches, 
along  with  the  lessons  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments ;  and  that  preaching  and  interpretation  of  the 
Scriptures  in  private  houses  should  be  allowed. 

In  the  following  year,  one  of  the  first  outrages 
which  the  Reformers  committed  in  Scotland  took 
place  in  Edinburgh.  On  occasion  of  the  annual  pro- 


42  LIFE    OF    MARY 

cession  through  the  city,  in  honour  of  the  tutelai 
saint — St.  Giles, — the  image  of  that  illustrious  per- 
sonage, which  ought  to  have  been  carried  by  some 
of  the  priests,  was  missing — the  godly  having  be- 
forehand, according  to  John  Knox,  first  drowned  the 
idol  in  the  North  Loch,  and  then  burned  it.  It  was 
therefore  necessary  to  borrow  a  smaller  saint  from 
the  Gray  Friars,  in  order  that  this  "  great  solemnity 
and  manifest  abomination"  might  proceed.  Upon 
the  day  appointed,  priests,  friars,  canons,  and  "  rotten 
Papists"  assembled,  with  tabors,  trumpets,  banners, 
and  bagpipes.  At  this  sight  the  hearts  of  the  breth- 
ren were  wondrously  inflamed;  and  they  resolved 
that  this  second  dragon  should  suffer  the  fate  of  the 
first.  They  broke  in  upon  the  procession,  and  though 
the  Catholics  made  some  slight  resistance  at  first, 
they  were  soon  obliged  to  surrender  the  image  into 
the  hands  of  the  Philistines,  who,  taking  it  by  the 
heels,  and  knocking,  or,  as  the  reformed  historian 
says,  dadding  its  head  upon  the  pavement,  soon  re- 
duced it  to  fragments,  only  regretting  that "  the  young 
St.  Giles"  had  not  been  so  difficult  to  kill  as  his  father. 
The  priests,  alarmed  for  their  personal  safety,  sought 
shelter  as  quickly  as  possible,  and  gave  Knox  an  op- 
portunity of  indulging  in  some  of  that  austere  mirth 
which  is  peculiarly  remarkable,  because  so  foreign 
to  his  general  style.  "  Then  might  have  been  seen," 
says  he,  "  so  sudden  a  fray  as  seldom  has  been  seen 
among  that  sort  of  men  within  this  realm ;  for  down 
goes  the  cross,  off  go  the  surplices,  round  caps,  and 
cornets  with  the  crowns.  The  Gray  Friars  gaped, 
the  Black  Friars  blew,  and  the  priests  panted  and 
fled,  and  happy  was  he  that  first  got  the  house ;  for 
such  a  sudden  fray  came  never  among  the  genera- 
tion of  Antichrist  within  this  realm  before."  The 
magistrates  had  some  difficulty  in  prevailing  upon 
the  mob  to  disperse,  after  they  had  kept  possession 
of  the.  streets  for  several  hours ;  and  the  rioters  es- 
caped without  punishment ;  for  "  the  brethren  assem- 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  43 

bled  themselves  in  such  sort  in  companies,  singing 
psalms,  and  praising  God,  that  the  proudest  of  the 
enemies  were  astounded."* 

The  commissioners  who,  about  this  time,  were 
sent  into  France,  and  the  motives  of  their  embassy, 
will  be  spoken  of  afterward.  But  the  remarkable 
circumstance,  that  four  of  them  died  when  about  to 
return  home, — one  at  Paris,  and  three  at  Dieppe, — 
had  a  considerable  influence  in  exciting  the  populace 
to  still  greater  hatred  against  the  French  party, — it 
being  commonly  suspected  that  they  had  come  by 
their  death  unfairly.  The  Congregation  now  rose 
in  their  demands ;  and  among  other  things,  insisted 
that "  the  wicked  and  scandalous  lives"  of  churchmen 
should  be  reformed,  according  to  the  rules  contained 
in  the  New  Testament,  the  writings  of  the  ancient 
fathers,  and  the  laws  of  Justinian  the  emperor.  For 
a  while,  the  queen-regent  temporized;  but  finding.it 
impossible  to  preserve  the  favour  of  both  parties,  she 
yielded  at  length  to  the  solicitations  of  the  Arch- 
bishop of  St.  Andrews,  and  determined  to  resist  the 
Reformers  vigorously.  In  1559,  she  summoned  all 
the  ministers  of  the  Congregation  to  appear  before 
her  at  Stirling.  This  citation  was  complied  with, 
but  not  exactly  in  the  manner  that  the  queen  wished ; 
for  the  ministers  came  not  as  culprits,  but  as  men 
proud  of  their  principles,  and  accompanied  by  a  vast 
multitude  of  those  who  were  of  the  same  mode  of 
thinking.  The  queen,  who  was  at  Stirling,  did  not 
venture  to  proceed  to  Perth;  and  the  request  she 
made,  that  the  numbers  there  assembled  should  de- 
part, leaving  their  ministers  to  be  examined  by  the 
government,  having  been  refused,  she  proceeded  to 
the  harsh  and  decisive  measure  of  declaring  them 
all  rebels. 

The  consternation  which  this  direct  announcement 
of  hostilities  occasioned  among  them  was  still  at  its 

*  Keith,  p.  68.— Knox's  History,  p.  94-96 


44  LIFE    OF    MARY 

height,  when  the  great  champion  of  the  Scottish  K«* 
formation,  John  Knox,  arrived  at  Perth.  This  cele- 
brated divine  had  already  suffered  much  for  "the 
good  cause ;"  and  though  his  zeal  and  devotion  to  it 
were  well  known,  it  was  not  till  latterly  that  he  had 
entertained  much  hope  of  its  final  triumph  m  his  na- 
tive country.  He  had  spent  the  greater  part  of  his 
life  m  imprisonment  or  exile;  he  had  undergone 
many  privations,  and  submitted  to  many  trials.  But 
these  were  the  daily  food  of  the  Reformers;  and, 
while  they  only  served  to  strengthen  them  in  the  ob- 
duracy of  iheir  belief,  they  had  the  additional  effect 
of  infusing  a  morose  acerbity  into  dispositions  not 
naturally  of  the  softest  kind.  Knox  had  returned 
only  a  few  days  before  from  Geneva,  where  he  had 
been  solacing  his  solitude  by  writing  and  publishing 
that  celebrated  work  which  he  was  pleased  to  entitle, 
"  The  first  blast  of  the  trumpet  against  the  monstrous 
regiment  of  women."  This  treatise,  directed  princi- 
pally against  Mary  of  England,  not  forgetting  Mary 
Queen  of  Scots  and  her  mother  of  Guise,  rather  over- 
shot its  own  purpose,  by  bringing  the  Reformer  into 
disrepute  with  Elizabeth,  who  came  to  the  crown 
soon  after  its  appearance.  To  pacify  that  queen,  for 
it  appears  even  Knox  could  temporize  occasionally, 
he  gave  up  his  original  intention  of  blowing  his 
trumpet  thrice,  and  his  first  blast  was  his  last.* 

The  day  after  the  ministers  and  their  friends  had 
been  declared  rebels,  Knox  delivered  at  Perth  what 
Keith  terms  "  that  thundering  sermon  against  idol- 
atry." The  tumult  which  ensued  at  the  conclusion 
of  this  discourse  has  been  attributed  by  some  histo- 
rians to  accident ;  but  Keith's  suspicion  that  Knox 
had  a  direct  intention  to  excite  it  seems  well  founded, 
when  we  consider  the  ferment  in  which  the  minds 
of  his  audience  were  at  the  time,  and  the  peculiar 
style  in  which  he  addressed  them.  Buchanan  is  of 

*  Mffrie'i  Life  of  Knox,  vol.  i.  p.  m 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  46 

the  same  opinion,  though  he  would  naturally  have 
leaned  to  the  other  conclusion.  He  says  that  Knox, 
"  in  that  ticklish  posture  of  affairs,  made  such  a  pa- 
thetic sermon  to  the  multitude  who  were  gathered 
together,  that  he  set  their  minds,  which  were  already 
fired,  all  in  a  flame."  If,  in  addition  to  this,  the  usual 
manner  of  Knox's  eloquence  be  considered,  it  will 
hardly  be  questioned  but  that  the  outrage  of  that  day 
was  of  his  doing.  His  vehemence  in  the  pulpit  was 
at  all  times  tremendous;  indeed,  in  so  far  as  the 
effect  he  produced  upon  his  hearers  was  concerned, 
he  seems  to  have  trusted  almost  as  much  to  the  dis- 
play of  his  physical  as  of  his  mental  energies.  Many 
years  after  the  period  now  alluded  to,  when  he  was 
in  his  old  age  and  very  weak,  Melville  tells  us,  that 
he  saw  him  every  Sunday  go  slowly  and  feebly,  with 
fur  about  his  neck,  a  staff  in  his  hand,  and  a  servant 
supporting  him,  from  his  own  house  to  the  parish 
church  in  St.  Andrews.  There,  after  being  lifted 
into  the  pulpit,  his  limbs  for  some  time  were  so  feeble 
that  they  could  hardly  support  him  ;  but  ere  he  had 
done  with  his  sermon,  he  became  so  active  and  vigor- 
ous, that  he  was  like  "  to  ding  the  pulpit  in  blads,  and 
flie  out  of  it."*  What  he  must  have  been,  therefore, 
in  his  best  days  may  be  more  easily  imagined  than 
described. 

On  the  present  occasion,  after  Knox  had  preached 
and  some  of  the  congregation  had  retired,  it  appears 
that  some  "  godly  men"  remained  in  the  church.  A 
priest  had  the  imprudence  to  venture  in  among  them, 
and  to  commence  saying  mass.  A  young  man  called 
out  that  such  idolatry  was  intolerable  ;  upon  which  it 
is  said  that  the  priest  struck  him.  The  young  man 
retorted  by  throwing  a  stone,  which  injured  one  of 
the  pictures.  The  affair  soon  became  general.  The 
enraged  people  fell  upon  the  altars  and  images,  and 
in  a  short  time  nothing  was  left  undemolished  but  the 

*  M'Crie's  Life  of  Knox,  vol.  ii.  p.  206 


46  LIFE    OF    MARY 

bare  walls  of  the  church.  The  Reformers  through, 
out  the  city,  hearing  of  these  proceedings,  speedily 
collected,  and  attacking  the  monasteries  of  the  Gray 
and  Black  Friars,  along  with  the  costly  edifice  of 
the  Carthusian  Monks,  left  not  a  vestige  of  what 
they  considered  idolatrous  and  profane  worship  in 
any  of  them.  The  example  thus  set  at  Perth  was 
speedily  followed  almost  every  where  throughout 
the  country. 

These  outrages  greatly  incensed  the  queen-regent, 
and  were  looked  upon  with  horror  by  the  Catholics 
in  general.  To  this  day  the  loss  of  many  a  fine 
building  through  the  zeal  of  the  early  Reformers  is 
a  common  subject  of  regret  and  complaint.  It  is  to 
be  remembered,  however,  that  no  revolution  can  be 
effected  without  paying  a  price  for  it.  If  the  Re- 
formation was  a  benefit,  how  could  the  Catholic 
superstition  be  more  successfully  attacked  than  by 
knocking  down  those  gorgeous  temples  which  were 
of  themselves  sufficient  to  render  invincible  the  pride 
and  inveterate  bigotry  of  its  votaries  ?  The  saying 
of  John  Knox,  though  a  homely,  was  a  true  one, — 
"  Pull  down  their  nests,  and  the  rooks  will  fly  away." 
It  is  not  improbable,  as  M'Crie  conjectures,  that  had 
these  buildings  been  allowed  to  remain  in  their  former 
splendour,  the  Popish  clergy  might  have  long  con- 
tinued to  indulge  hopes,  and  to  make  efforts  to  be 
restored  to  them.  Victories  over  an  enemy  are  cel*> 
brated  with  public  rejoicings,  notwithstanding  the 
thousands  of  our  fellow-countrymen  who  may  have 
fallen  in  tht  contest.  Why  should  the  far  more  im 
portant  victory  over  those  who  had  so  long  held  in 
thraldom  the  human  mind  be  robbed  of  its  due  praise, 
because  some  statues  were  mangled,  some  pictures 
torn,  and  some  venerable  towers  overthrown  1* 

*  The  biographer  of  Knox  goes,  perhaps,  a  little  too  far,  when  he  pio- 
P<MM  to  alleviate  the  sorrow  felt  for  the  loss  of  these  architectural  monu- 
ments of  superstition  by  reminding  the  antiquarian  that  ruins  inspire 
more  lively  sentiments  of  the  sublime  and  beautiful  than  more  perfect 


(iUKEN    OF    SCOTS.  47 

With  as  httle  delay  as  possible,  the  queen-regent 
appeared  with  an  army  before  Perth,  and  made  her- 
self mistress  of  the  town.  The  Reformers,  however, 
were  not  to  be  intimidated ;  and  their  strength  having, 
by  this  time,  much  increased,  it  was  deemed  prudent 
by  the  regent  not  to  push  matters  to  an  extremity. 
Both  parties  agreed  to  disband  their  forces,  and  to 
refer  the  controversy  to  the  next  parliament.  As 
was  to  be  expected,  this  temporary  truce  was  not  of 
long  duration.  Incessant  mutual  recrimination  and 
aggression  soon  induced  both  sides  to  concentrate 
their  forces  once  more.  Perth  was  retaken  by  the 
Reformers,  who  shortly  afterward  marched  into 
Edinburgh.  After  remaining  there  for  some  time, 
they  were  surprised  by  a  sudden  march  which  the 
queen  made  upon  them  from  Dunbar,  and  were  com- 
pelled to  fall  back  upon  Stirling. 

A  belief  was  at  this  time  prevalent  at  the  court  of 
France,  that  the  Prior  of  St.  Andrews,  who  was  the 
principal  military  leader  of  the  Congregation,  had 
views  of  a  treasonable  nature  even  upon  the  crown 
itself,  and  that  he  hoped  the  flaw  in  his  legitimacy 
might  be  forgotten,  in  consideration  of  his  godly  ex- 
ertions in  support  of  the  true  faith.  A  new  rein 
forcement  of  French  soldiers  arrived  at  Leith,  which 
they  fortified ;  and  the  French  ambassador  was  com- 
manded to  inform  the  prior,  that  the  king,  his  mas- 
ter, would  rather  spend  the  crown  of  France  than 
not  be  revenged  of  the  seditious  persons  in  Scotland. 

The  civil  war  now  raged  with  increased  bitter- 
ness and  with  various  success,  but  without  any  de- 
cisive advantage  on  either  side  for  some  time.  The 
Reformers  applied  for  assistance  to  Queen  Elizabeth, 
who  favoured  their  cause  for  various  reasons,  and 
would,  no  doubt,  much  rather  have  seen  Murray  in 
possession  of  the  Scottish  crown,  than  her  own  per- 

remains.  This  is  a  piece  of  ingenuity,  but  not  of  sound  reasoning.  It 
is  rather  a.  curious  doctrine,  that  a  cathedral  or  monastery  does  not  look 
beat  with  all  its  walls  standing.— WCrifs  Life  of  Knox,  vol.  i.  p.  371. 


48  MFE    OF    MARY 

sonal  rival,  Mary.  The  Congregation  having  found 
it  impossible,  by  their  own  efforts,  to  drive  the  French 
out  of  Leith,  Elizabeth,  in  the  beginning  of  the  year 
1560,  fitted  out  a  powerful  fleet,  which,  to  the  aston- 
ishment of  the  queen-regent  and  her  French  allies, 
sailed  up  the  Frith  of  Forth  and  anchored  in  the  roads 
before  even  the  purpose  for  which  it  had  come  was 
known.  A  treaty  was  soon  afterward  concluded 
at  Berwick  between  the  lords  of  the  Congregation 
and  Elizabeth's  commissioner,  the  Duke  of  Norfolk, 
by  which  it  was  agreed,  on  the  part  of  the  former, 
that  no  alliance  should  ever  be  entered  into  by  them 
with  France ;  and  on  that  of  the  latter,  that  an  Eng- 
lish army  should  march  into  Scotland  early  in  spring, 
for  the  purpose  of  aiding  in  the  expulsion  of  the 
French  troops. 

This  army  came  at  the  time  appointed,  and  was 
soon  joined  by  the  forces  of  the  Reformers.  The 
allies  marched  directly  for  Leith,  which  they  invested 
without  loss  of  time.  The  siege  was  cond  ucted  with 
great  spirit,  but  the  town  was  very  resolutely  de- 
fended by  the  French.  So  much  determination  was 
displayed  upon  both  sides,  that  it  was  difficult  to  say 
how  the  matter  might  have  ended,  had  not  the  death 
of  the  queen-regent,  which  took  place  at  this  junc- 
ture, changed  materially  the  whole  aspect  of  affairs. 
She  had  been  ill  for  some  time,  and  during  her  sick- 
ness resided  in  the  castle  of  Edinburgh.  Perceiving 
that  her  end  was  approaching,  she  requested  an  inter- 
view with  some  of  the  leaders  of  the  Congregation. 
The  Duke  of  Chatelherault,  the  Prior  of  St.  Andrews 
tfr  the  Lord  James,  as  he  was  commonly  called,  ana 
others,  waited  upon  her  in  her  sick  chamber.  She 
expressed  to  them  her  sincere  grief  for  the  troubles 
which  existed  in  the  country,  and  advised  that  both 
the  English  and  French  troops  should  be  sent  home. 
She  entreated  that  they  would  reverence  and  obey 
their  native  and  lawful  sovereign,  her  daughter  Mary. 
She  told  them  how  deeply  attached  she  was  to  Scot 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  49 

land  and  its  interests,  although  by  birth  a  Frenchwo- 
man ;  and  at  the  conclusion,  she  burst  into  tears,  kiss- 
ing- the  nobles  one  by  one,  and  asking  pardon  of  all 
whom  she  had  in  any  way  offended.  The  day  after 
this  interview  Mary  of  Guise  died.  Her  many  ex- 
cellent qualities  were  long  remembered  in  Scotland ; 
for  even  those  who  could  not  love,  respected  her.  In 
private  life,  if  this  term  can  be  used  with  propriety 
when  speaking  of  a  queen,  she  appears  to  have  been 
most  deservedly  esteemed.  She  set  an  example  to 
all  her  maids  of  honour,  of  piety,  modesty,  and  be 
coming  gravity  of  deportment ;  she  was  exceedingly 
charitable  to  the  poor ;  and  had  she  fallen  upon  bet- 
ter days,  her  life  would  have  been  a  happier  one  for 
herself,  and  her  memory  more  generally  prized  by 
posterity.  Her  body  was  carried  over  to  France, 
and  buried  in  the  Benedictine  monastery  at  Rheims.* 
Very  soon  after  the  death  of  the  queen-regent, 
commissioners  arrived  both  from  France  and  England, 
with  full  powers  to  conclude  a  treaty  of  peace  between 
the  three  countries.  By  the  loss  of  their  sister,  the 
princes  of  Lorraine  had  been  deprived  of  their  chief 
support  in  Scotland,  and  being  actively  engaged  in 
schemes  of  ambition  nearer  home,  they  found  it  ne- 
cessary to  conciliate,  as  they  best  could,  the  predomi- 

*  It  is  worth  while  observing  with  what  a  total  want  of  all  Christian 
charity  Knox  speaks  of  the  death  of  Mary  of  Guise.  Alluding  to  her 
burial,  he  says : — "  The  question  was  moved  of  her  burial :  the  preachers 
boldly  gainstood  that  any  superstitious  rites  should  be  used  within 
that  realm  which  God  of  his  mercy  had  begun  to  purge ;  and  so  wa* 
she  clapped  in  a  coffin  of  lead,  and  kept  in  the  castle  from  the  9th  of  June 
until  the  19th  of  October,  when  she,  by  Pinyours,  was  carried  to  a  ship 
and  so  carried  to  France.  What  pomp  was  used  there  we  neither  hear 
•or  yet  regard ;  b»t  in  it  we  see  that  she  that  delighted  that  others  lay 
without  burial,  got  it  neither  so  soon  as  she  herself  (if  she  had  been  of  the 
counsel  in  her  life)  would  have  required  it,  neither  yet  so  honourable  in 
this  realm  as  sometimes  she  looked  for.  It  may  perchance  be  a  pro 
nosticon,  that  theGuisean  blood  cannot  have  any  rest  within  this  realm. 
Elsewhere  he  says — "  Within  few  days  after,  began  her  belly  and  loath 
some  legs  to  swell,  and  so  continued  till  that  God  did  execute  his  judg- 
ment upon  her."  And  again — "  God,  for  his  mercy's  sake,  rid  us  of  the 
rest  of  the  Guisean  blood.  Amen."  As  Keith  remarks,  it  was  not  by 
(kin  spirit  that  the  apostles  converted  the  world. — Keith,  p.  129 

31—4 


50  LIFE    OF    MARY 

nating  party  there.  The  important  treaty  of  Edin- 
burgh, which  will  be  mentioned  frequently  hereafter, 
was  concluded  on  the  14th  of  June,  1560.  It  waa 
signed  on  the  part  of  France  by  the  two  plenipoten- 
tiaries, Monluc,  Bishop  of  Valence,  and  the  Sieur 
Derandon,  reckoned  two  of  the  best  diplomatists  of 
the  day ;  and  on  the  part  of  England,  by  Wotton,  Dean 
of  Canterbury,  and  Elizabeth's  prime  minister,  Cecil, 
one  of  the  ablest  men  of  that  or  any  age.  The 
interests  of  the  Congregation  were  intrusted  princi- 
pally to  the  Lord  James.  In  consequence  of  this  treaty 
the  French  troops  were  immediately  withdrawn. 
The  fortifications  of  Leith  and  D  unbar  were  de- 
stroyed, and  a  parliament  was  held,  whose  acts  were 
to  be  considered  as  valid  as  if  it  had  been  called  by 
the  express  commands  of  the  queen.  In  that  parlia- 
ment, the  adherents  of  the  Congregation  were  found 
greatly  to  outnumber  their  adversaries.  An  act  of 
oblivion  and  indemnity  was  passed  for  all  that  had 
taken  place  within  the  two  preceding  years ;  and  for 
the  first  time  the  Catholics,  awed  into  silence,  sub- 
mitted to  every  thing  which  the  Reformers  proposed. 
A  new  Confession  of  Faith  was  sanctioned;  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  ecclesiastical  courts  was  abolished; 
and  the  exercise  of  worship  according  to  the  rites 
of  the  Romish  Church  was  prohibited  under  severe 
penalties — a  third  act  of  disobedience  being  declared 
capital. 

Thus  the  Reformation  finally  triumphed  in  Scot 
land.  Though  as  yet  only  in  its  infancy,  and  still 
exposed  to  many  perils,  it  was  nevertheless  estab- 
lished on  a  comparatively  firm  and  constitutional 
basis.  The  Catholics,  it  is  true,  aware  of  the  school 
in  which  Mary  had  been  educated,  were  far  from 
having  given  up  all  hope  of  retrieving  their  circum- 
stances ;  and  they  waited  for  her  return  with  the 
utmost  impatience  and  anxiety.  But  they  ought  to 
have  known,  that  whatever  might  have  been  Mary's 
wishes,  their  reipn  was  over  in  Scotland.  A  sove- 


QTTEEN    OF   SCOTS.  51 

ieign  may  coerce  the  bodies,  but  he  can  never  pos- 
sess a  despotic  sway  over  the  minds  of  his  subjects. 
The  people  had  now  begun  to  think  for  themselves ; 
and  a  belief  in  the  mere  mummeries  of  a  fantastic 
system  of  Christianity,  and  of  the  efficacy  of  mira- 
cles performed  by  blocks  of  wood  and  stone,  was 
never  again  to  form  a  portion  of  their  faith.  A  brief 
account  of  one  of  the  last  and  not  least  ludicrous  at- 
tempts which  the  Popish  clergy  made  to  support  their 
sinking  cause  will  form  a  not  improper  conclusion  to 
this  chapter. 

There  was  a  chapel  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Mus- 
selburgh,  dedicated  to  the  Lady  of  Loretto  which, 
from  the  character  of  superior  sanctity  it  had  acquired, 
had  long  been  the  favourite  resort  of  religious  devo- 
tees. In  this  chapel  a  body  of  the  Catholic  priests 
undertook  to  put  their  religion  to  the  test  by  perform- 
ing a  miracle.  They  fixed  upon  a  young  man  who 
was  well  known  as  a  common  blind  beggar,  in  the 
streets  of  Edinburgh,  and  engaged  to  restore  to  him, 
in  the  presence  of  the  assembled  people,  the  perfect 
use  of  his  eyesight.  A  day  was  named,  on  which 
they  calculated  they  might  depend  on  this  wonderful 
interposition  of  Divine  power  in  their  behalf.  From 
motives  of  curiosity  a  great  crowd  was  attracted  at 
the  appointed  time  to  the  chapel.  The  blind  man 
made  his  appearance  on  a  scaffold  erected  for  the 
occasion.  The  priests  approached  the  altar,  and 
after  praying  very  devoutly,  and  performing  othei 
religious  ceremonies,  he  who  had  previously  been 
stone  blind  opened  his  eyes  and  declared  he  saw  all 
things  plainly.  Having  humbly  and  gratefully  thanked 
his  benefactors,  the  priests,  he  was  permitted  to 
mingle  among  the  astonished  people,  and  receive 
their  cnarity. 

Unfortunately,  however,  for  the  success  of  this 
deception,  a  gentleman  from  Fife,  of  the  name  of 
Colville,  determined  to  penetrate  if  possible  a  little 
further  into  the  mystery.  He  prevailed  upon  the  sub- 

I      E 


62  LIFE    OF    MARY 

ject  of  the  recent  experiment  to  accompany  him  to 
his  lodgings  in  Edinburgh.  As  soon  as  they  were 
alone,  he  locked  the  chamber-door,  and  either  by 
bribes  or  threats  contrived  to  win  from  him  the  whole 
secret.  It  turned  out,  that  in  his  boyhood  this  tool  in 
the  hand?  of  the  designing  had  been  employed  as  a 
herd  by  the  nuns  of  the  convent  of  Sciennes,  then  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Edinburgh.  It  was  remarked 
by  the  sisterhood  that  he  had  an  extraordinary  facility 
in  "  flyping  up  the  lid  of  his  eyes,  and  casting  up  the 
white.'1  Some  of  the  neighbouring  priests,  hearing 
accidentally  of  this  talent,  imagined  that  it  might  be 
applied  to  good  account.  They  accordingly  took 
him  from  Sciennes  to  the  monastery  near  Mussel- 
burgh,  where  they  kept  him  till  he  had  made  himself 
an  adept  in  this  mode  of  counterfeiting  blindness,  and 
till  his  personal  appearance  was  so  much  changed 
that  the  few  who  had  been  acquainted  with  him  before, 
would  not  be  able  to  recognise  him.  They  then  sent 
him  into  Edinburgh  to  beg  publicly  and  make  himself 
familiarly  known  to  the  inhabitants  as  a  common 
blind  mendicant.  So  far  every  thing  had  gone 
smoothly,  and  the  scene  at  the  chapel  of  Loretto  might 
have  had  effect  on  the  minds  of  the  vulgar,  had  Col- 
ville's  activity  not  discovered  the  gross  imposture. 
Colville,  who  belonged  to  the  Congregation,  instantly 
took  the  most  effectual  means  to  make  known  the 
deceit.  He  insisted  upon  the  blind  man's  appearing 
with  him  next  day  at  the  Cross  of  Edinburgh,  where 
the  .alter  repeated  all  he  had  previously  told  Colville, 
and  confessed  the  iniquity  of  his  own  conduct  aa 
well  as  that  of  the  priests.  To  shelter  him  from  their 
revenge  Colville  immediately  afterward  carried  him 
off  to  Fife ;  and  the  story  with  all  its  details,  being 
speedily  disseminated,  exposed  the  Catholic  clerg} 
to  more  contempt  than  ever.* 

*  M'Crie'3  Life  of  Knox,  vol.  I.  p.  32J 


QUEEN    OK    SCOTS.  58 


CHAPTER  III. 

Mary'*  Birth,  and  subsequent  Residence  at  the  French  Cmrt, 
with  a  Sketch  of  the  State  oj  Society  and  Minturs  in 
France  during  the  Sixteenth  Century. 

MARY  STUART,  Queen  of  Scots,  was  the  third  child 
of  James  V.  and  his  wife,  Mary  of  Guise.  That  lady 
had  borne  him  previously  two  sons,  both  of  whom 
died  in  infancy.  Mary  came  into  the  world  on  the 
7th  of  December,  1542,  in  the  palace  of  Linlithgow 
She  was  only  seven  days  old  when  she  lost  her  father, 
who  at  the  time  of  her  birth  lay  sick  in  the  palace  of 
Falkland.  James  died,  as  he  had  lived,  with  a  kingly 
and  gallant  spirit.  In  the  language  of  Pitscottie,  he 
turned  him  upon  his  back,  and  looked  and  beheld  all 
his  nobles  and  lords  about  him,  and,  giving  a  little 
smile  of  laughter,  kissed  his  hand,  and  offered  it  to 
them.  When  they  had  pressed  it  to  their  lips  for 
the  last  time,  he  tossed  up  his  arms,  and  yielded  his 
spirit  to  God.  James  was  considered  one  of  the 
most  handsome  men  of  his  day.  He  was  above  the 
middle  stature ;  his  hair  flowed  luxuriantly  over  his 
shoulders  in  natural  ringlets,  and  was  of  a  dark  yel- 
low or  auburn  colour ;  his  eyes  were  gray,  and  very 
penetrating;  his  voice  was  sweet-toned;  and  the 
general  expression  of  his  countenance  uncommonly 
prepossessing.  He  inherited  a  vigorous  constitution, 
and  kept  it  sound  and  healthy  by  constant  exercise, 
and  by  refraining  from  all  excesses  in  eating  01 
drinking.  He  was  buried  in  the  royal  vault  in  the 
chapel  of  Holyrood  House,  where  his  embalmed 
body,  in  a  state  of  entire  preservation,  was  still  to  be 
seen  in  the  time  of  the  historian  Keith. 


54  LIFE    OF    MARY 

The  young  queen  was  crowned  by  Cardinal  Beaton, 
at  Stirling,  on  the  9th  of  September,  1543.  Her  mo- 
ther, who  watched  over  her  with  the  most  careful 
anxiety,  had  been  told  a  report  prevailed  that  the 
infant  was  sickly,  and  not  likely  to  live.  To  disprove 
this  calumny,  she  desired  Janet  Sinclair,  Mary's 
nurse,  to  unswaddle  her  in  the  presence  of  the  Eng 
lish  ambassador,  who  wrote  to  his  own  court  that 
she  was  as  goodly  a  child  as  he  had  seen  of  her  age. 

Soon  after  her  birth,  the  parliament  nominated 
commissioners,  to  whom  they  intrusted  the  charge 
of  the  queen's  person,  leaving  all  her  other  interests 
to  the  care  of  her  mother.  The  first  two  years  of 
her  life  Mary  spent  at  Linlithgow,  where  it  appears 
she  had  the  small-pox,  a  point  of  some  importance, 
as  one  of  her  historians  remarks,  in  the  biography 
of  a  beauty  and  a  queen.*  The  disease  must  have 
been  of  a  particularly  gentle  kind,  having  left  behind 
no  visible  traces.  During  the  greater  part  of  the 
years  1545,  1546,  and  1547,  she  resided  at  Stirling 
Castle,  in  the  keeping  of  Lords  Erskine  and  Living- 
stone. Here  she  received  the  first  rudiments  of  edu- 
cation from  two  ecclesiastics,  who  were  appointed 
her  preceptors,  more,  however,  as  matter  of  form 
than  from  any  use  they  could  be  of  to  her  at  so  early 
an  age.  When  the  internal  disturbances  of  the 
country  rendered  even  Stirling  Castle  a  somewhat 
dangerous  residence,  Mary  was  removed  to  Inchma- 
home,  a  sequestered  island  in  the  lake  of  Monteith. 
That  she  might  not  be  too  lonely,  and  that  a  spirit 
of  generous  emulation  might  present  her  with  an 
additional  motive  for  the  prosecution  of  her  studies, 
the  queen-dowager  selected  four  young  ladies  of 
rank  as  her  companions  and  playmates.  They  were 
each  about  her  daughter's  age,  and  either  from  chance, 
or  because  the  conceit  seemed  natural,  they  all  bore 
the  same  surname.  The  four  Maries  were,  Mary 

*  Sadler's  State  Papers  and  Letters,  vol.  i.  p.  263. 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  55 

Beaton,  a  niece  of  Cardinal  Beaton,  Mary  Fleming, 
daughter  of  Lord  Fleming,  Mary  Livingstone,  whose 
father  was  one  of  the  young  queen's  guardians,  and 
Mary  Seaton,  daughter  of  Lord  Seaton. 

Mary  having  remained  upwaids  of  two  years  in 
this  island,  those  who  had,  at  the  time,  the  disposal 
of  her  future  destiny  thought  it  expedient,  for  reasons 
which  have  been  already  explained,  that  she  should 
he  removed  to  France.  She  was  accordingly,  in  the 
fifth  year  of  her  age,  taken  to  Dumbarton,  where  she 
was  delivered  to  the  French  admiral,  whose  vessels 
were  waiting  to  receive  her,  and  attended  by  the 
Lords  Erskine  and  Livingstone,  her  three  natural 
brothers,  and  her  four  Maries,  she  left  Scotland. 

The  thirteen  happiest  years  of  Mary's  life  were 
spent  in  France.  Towards  the  end  of  July,  1548, 
she  sailed  from  Dumbarton,  and,  after  a  tempestuous 
voyage,  landed  at  Brest  on  the  14th  of  August.  She 
was  there  received,  by  Henry  H.'s  orders,  with  all 
the  honours  due  to  her  rank  and  royal  destiny.  She 
travelled,  with  her  retinue,  by  easy  stages,  to  the 
palace  at  St.  Germain  en  Laye ;  and  to  mark  the 
respect  that  was  paid  to  her,  the  prison-gates  of  every 
town  she  came  to  were  thrown  open,  and  the  prison- 
ers set  free.  Shortly  after  her  arrival,  she  was  sent, 
along  with  the  king's  own  daughters,  to  one  of  the 
first  convents  in  France,  where  young  ladies  of  dis- 
tinction were  instructed  in  the  elementary  branches 
of  education. 

The  natural  quickness  of  her  capacity  and  the  early 
acuteness  of  her  mind  now  began  to  manifest  them- 
selves. She  made  rapid  progress  in  acquiring  that 
species  of  knowledge  suited  to  her  years,  and  her 
lively  imagination  went  even  the  length  of  attaching 
a  more  than  ordinary  interest  to  the  calm  and  se- 
cluded life  of  a  nunnery.  It  was  whispered,  that  she 
had  already  expressed  a  wish  to  separate  herself  for 
ever  from  the  world ;  and  it  is  not  improbable,  that 
\»ad  this  wish  been  allowed  to  foster  itself  silently 


•0  LIFE    OF    MAR\ 

in  her  bosom,  Mary  might  ultimately  have  taken  the 
veil,  in  which  case  her  life  would  have  been  a  blank 
in  history.  But  these  views  were  not  consistent 
with  the  more  ambitious  projects  entertained  bj 
Henry  and  her  uncles  of  Lorraine.  As  soon  as  they 
were  informed  of  the  bent  which  her  mind  appeared 
to  be  taking,  she  was  again  removed  from  the  convent 
to  the  palace.  To  reconcile  her  to  parting  with  the 
vestal  sisters,  Henry,  whose  conduct  towards  her  was* 
always  marked  by  affection  and  delicacy,  selected, 
from  all  the  noble  Scotch  families  then  residing  in 
France,  a  certain  number  to  constitute  her  future 
household.  The  tears  which  Mary  shed,  however, 
upon  leaving  the  nunnery  proved  the  warmth  of  her 
young  heart ;  and  that  her  feelings  were  not  of  merely 
momentary  duration  is  evinced  by  the  frequent  visits 
she  subsequently  paid  this  asylum  of  her  childhood, 
and  by  the  altar-piece  she  embroidered  with  her  own 
nands  for  the  chapel  of  the  convent. 

In  no  country  of  Europe  was  education  better  un 
derstood  than  it  then  was  in  France.  Francis  I., 
who  remodelled  upon  a  magnificent  scale  the  univer- 
sity of  Paris,  only  followed  the  example  which  had 
already  been  set  him  by  Louis  XII.  The  youth  of 
all  countries  flocked  to  the  French  schools.  The 
liberal  principles  which  induced  the  government  to 
maintain,  at  its  own  expense,  professors  who  lectured 
to  as  many  students  as  chose  to  hear  them,  were  amply 
repaid  by  the  beneficial  consequences  arising  from 
the  great  influx  of  strangers.  A  competent  know- 
ledge of  Latin,  Greek,  Hebrew,  mathematics,  moral 
philosophy,  and  medicine  could  be  acquired  in  France 
for  literally  nothing.  Nor  was  it  necessary  that  he 
who  sought  for  the  blessings  of  education  should 
profess  any  particular  system  of  religious  faith.  The 
German  Protestant  and  the  Spanish  Catholic  were 
allowed,  in  these  noble  institutions,  to  take  their  seat 
side  by  side.  Henry  supported  the  church  as  an 
engine  of  state,  while  he  detested  the  arrogant  pre- 


OF    SCOTS.  57 

tensions  and  empty  insolence  of  many  of  the  clergy, 
and  was  determined  that  they  should  not  interfere 
with  the  more  enlightened  views  which  he  himself 
entertained.  In  this  he  only  followed  the  opinions 
of  his  illustrious  father,  Francis,  who  used  to  remark, 
that  monks  were  better  at  teaching  linnets  to  whistle, 
playing  at  dice,  tippling,  and  gormandizing,  than  in 
doing  good  either  to  religion  or  morality. 

The  host  of  authors  and  men  of  genius  who  flour- 
ished in  France  about  this  period  was  another  cause 
of  its  literary  eminence.  "Learning,"  says  Miss 
Benger,  "  far  from  being  the  badge  of  singularity, 
had  become  the  attribute  of  a  superior  station." 
"  There  was,"  observes  the  ingenious  Pasquier,  "  a 
glorious  crusade  against  ignorance."  Many  of  the 
names  then  celebrated  have  since,  it  is  true,  passed 
into  oblivion,  but  the  multitude  who  cultivated  letters 
show  the  spirit  of  the  times.  Beza,  Seve,  Pelletier, 
and  others  led  the  van  in  the  severer  departments 
of  intellect;  while  Bellay,  Ronsard,  and  Jodelle 
showed  the  way  to  a  host  of  followers  in  the  cultiva- 
tion of  poetry  and  the  softer  arts  of  composition. 

Nor  must  the  great  statesmen  and  warriors  whose 
presence  lent  a  lustre  to  the  court  be  forgotten  in  this 
view  of  the  existing  pre-eminence  of  France.  The 
two  houses  of  Bourbon  and  Guise  had  each  given  birth 
to  many  names  destined  for  immortality.  The  pre- 
sent chiefs  of  Bourbon  were  Anthony,  Duke  of  Na- 
varre, and  Louis,  known  in  the  history  of  the  world 
as  the  first  Prince  of  Conde.  There  were  six 
brothers  of  the  Guises,  of  whom  the  two  most  illus- 
trious were  Francis,  Duke  of  Guise,  and  Charles,  Car- 
dinal of  Lorraine.  But  they  all  held  the  very  highest 
offices  in  the  church  or  state ;  one  was  a  cardinal, 
and  another  a  grand  prior ;  a  third,  the  Duke  d'Au- 
male,  commanded  the  army  then  in  Italy ;  and  the 
foifth,  the  Marquis  d'Elbeuf,  was  intrusted  with  the 
charge  of  the  French  troops  in  Scotland.  But  he 
who  held  the  balance  of  power  between  all  these  con- 


58  LIFE    OF    MARY 

tending  interests,  was  the  great  Mpntmoreniy,  Con- 
stable of  France.  He  had  by  this  time  become  a 
veteran  in  the  service  of  the  French  monarchs. 
Louis  XII.  had  acknowledged  his  virtues,  and  Francis 
I.  looked  to  him  for  advice  and  aid  in  every  emer- 
gency. Henry  felt  almost  a  filial  affection  and  reve- 
rence for  so  distinguished  a  statesman  and  patriot ; 
and  Diana  de  Poictiers  herself,  the  fascinating  widow 
of  the  Duke  de  Valentinois,  frequently  found  that  she 
possessed  less  influence  with  the  monarch  than  the 
venerable  and  unostentatious  Montmorency.  The 
minister  was  at  all  times  surrounded  by  a  formida- 
ble phalanx  of  friends  and  supporters.  Of  these  his 
own  sons  were  not  the  least  considerable ;  and  his 
nephews,  the  two  Colignys,  need  only  to  be  men- 
tioned to  awaken  recollections  of  some  of  the  most 
remarkable  events  of  French  history. 

Neither  must  we  omit  to  mention  the  two  ladies 
who  held  the  highest  places  in  the  French  court.  The 
sister  and  the  wife  of  Henry  II.  resembled  each  other 
but  faintly,  yet  both  secured  the  admiration  of  the 
country.  The  Princess  Margaret  had  established 
herself,  by  her  patronage  of  every  liberal  art  and  her 
universal  beneficence,  in  the  hearts  of  the  whole  peo- 
ple. Her  religion  did  not  degenerate  into  bigotry, 
and  her  charity,  while  it  was  at  all  times  efficient, 
was  without  parade.  She  became  afterward  the 
Dutchess  of  Savoy ;  but  till  past  the  meridian  of  life, 
she  continued  constantly  at  her  brother's  court, — a 
origin  example  of  all  that  was  virtuous  and  attractive 
in  female  character.  To  her  France  was  indebted 
for  discovering  and  fostering  the  talents  of  its  great 
chancellor  Michel  L'Hopital;  and  the  honourable 
name  by  which  she  was  universally  known  was  that 
of  Minerva.  The  king's  wife,  Catherine  de  Medicis, 
was  more  respected  for  her  talents  than  loved  foi 
her  virtues.  But  as  yet,  the  ambition  of  her  nature 
had  not  betrayed  itself,  and  little  occasion  had  been 
afforded  for  the  exercise  of  those  arts  of  dissimula 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  50 

lion,  or  the  exposure  of  that  proneness  to  envy  and 
resentment,  which  at  a  later  period  became  so  appa- 
rent. She  was  still  in  the  bloom  of  youth,  and  main- 
tained a  high  character,  not  without  much  show  of 

eason. 

Such  being  the  general  aspect  of  the  country  and 
the  court,  it  cannot  fail  to  become  evident,  that  so 
far  from  being  a  just  cause  of  regret,  nothing  could 
have  redounded  more  to  Mary's  advantage  than  her 
education  and  residence  in  France.  If  bigotry  pre- 
vailed among  the  clergy,  it  was  not  countenanced  at 
the  court,  for  Henry  cared  little  about  religion,  and 
his  sister  Margaret  was  suspected  of  leaning  to  the 
Reformed  opinions.  If  Parisian  manners  were  known 
to  be  too  deeply  tinctured  with  licentiousness,  the 
palace  of  Catherine  must  be  excepted  from  the 
charge ;  for  even  the  deportment  of  Diana  herself 
was  grave  and  decorous,  and  for  his  sister's  sake 
the  king  dared  not  have  countenanced  any  of  those 
grosser  immoralities  in  which  Henry  VIII.  of  Eng- 
land so  openly  indulged.  The  Cardinal  of  Lorrainp 
who  was  at  the  head  of  the  Parisian  Unirersity, 
quickly  discovering  Mary's  capabilities,  directed  ner 
studies  with  the  most  watchful  anxiety.  She  was 
still  attended  by  the  two  preceptors  who  had  accom- 
panied her  from  Scotland,  and  before  she  was  ten 
years  old,  had  made  good  progress  in  the  French, 
Latin,  and  Italian  languages.  French  was  all  her 
life  as  familiar  to  her  as  her  native  tongue ;  and  she 
wrote  it  with  a  degree  of  elegance  which  no  one 
could  surpass.  Her  acquaintance  with  Latin  was 
not  of  that  superficial  kind  but  too  common  in  the 
present  day.  This  language  was  then  regarded  as 
almost  the  only  one  on  whose  stability  any  reliance 
could  be  placed.  It  was  consequently  deemed  indis- 
pensable that  all  who  aspired  at  any  eminence  in 
literature  should  be  able  to  compose  in  it  fluently. 
Mary's  teacher  was  the  celebrated  George  Buchanan, 
who  was  then  in  France,  and  who,  whatever  other 


80  LIFE    OF    MART 

praise  he  may  be  entitled  to,  was  unquestionably  one 
of  the  best  scholars  of  his  time.  The  young  queen's 
attention  was  likewise  directed  to  rhetoric  by  Fau- 
chet,  author  of  a  treatise  on  that  subject,  which  he 
dedicated  to  his  pupil, — to  history  by  Pasquier, — and 
the  delightful  study  of  poetry,  for  which  her  genius 
was  best  suited,  and  for  which  she  retained  a  predi- 
lection all  her  life,  by  Ronsard. 

Nor  must  it  be  imagined  that  Mary's  childhood 
was  exclusively  devoted  to  these  more  scholastic 
pursuits.  She  and  her  young  companions  the  Scotch 
Maries  and  the  daughters  of  Henry  were  frequently 
present  at  those  magnificent  galas  and  f£tes,  in  which 
the  king  himself  so  much  delighted,  and  which  weie 
so  particularly  in  unison  with  the  taste  of  the  times, 
though  nowhere  conducted  with  so  much  elegance 
and  grace  as  at  the  French  court.  The  summer  tour- 
naments and  f£tes  champe'tres,  and  the  winter  festivals 
and  masquerades,  were  attended  by  all  the  beauty 
and  chivalry  of  the  land.  In  these  amusements 
Mary,  as  she  grew  up,  took  a  lively  and  innocent 
pleasure.  The  woods  and  gardens  also  of  Fontain- 
bleau,  afforded  a  delightful  variation  from  the  artificial 
splendours  of  Paris.  In  summer,  sailing  on  the  lakes 
or  fishing  in  the  ponds ;  and  in  winter,  a  construction 
of  fortresses  on  the  ice,  a  mimic  battle  of  snowballs, 
or  skating,  became  royal  pastimes.  Mary's  gait  and 
air,  naturally  dignified  and  noble,  acquired  an  addi- 
tional charm  from  the  attention  she  paid  to  dancing 
and  riding.  The  favourite  dance  at  the  time  was 
the  Spanish  minuet,  which  Mary  frequently  per- 
formed with  her  young  consort,  to  the  admiration  of 
the  whole  court.  In  the  livelier  gailliarde  she  was 
unequalled,  as  was  confessed,  even  by  the  beautiful 
Anne  of  Este,  who,  in  a  pas-des-deux,  acknowledged 
that  she  was  eclipsed  by  Mary. 

The  activity  of  her  body,  indeed,  kept  upon  all 
occasions  full  pace  with  that  of  her  mind.  She  was 
particularly  fond  of  hunting ;  and  she  and  her  maids 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  61 

of  honour  were  frequently  seen  following  the  stag 
through  the  ancestral  forests  of  France.  Her  attach- 
ment to  this  amusement,  which  continued  all  her  life, 
exposed  her  on  several  occasions  to  some  danger. 
So  early  as  the  year  1559,  when  hunting  in  France, 
some  part  of  her  dress  was  caught  by  the  bough  of  a 
tree,  and  she  was  cast  off  her  horse  when  galloping 
at  full  speed.  Many  of  the  ladies  and  gentlemen  in 
her  train  passed  by  without  observing  her,  and  some 
so  near  as  actually  to  tread  on  her  riding-dress.  As 
soon  as  the  accident  was  discovered  she  was  raised 
from  the  ground;  but,  though  the  shock  had  been 
considerable,  she  had  too  manly  a  spirit  to  complain, 
and  readjusting  her  hair  which  had  fallen  into  confu- 
sion, she  again  mounted  her  horse  and  rode  home, 
smiling  at  the  accident.* 

Another  but  more  sedentary  amusement  with  Mary 
was  the  composition  of  devices.  To  excel  in  these 
required  some  wit  and  judgment.  A  device  was  the 
skilful  coupling  of  a  few  expressive  words  with  any 
engraved  figure  or  picture.  It  was  an  art  intimately 
connected  with  the  science  of  heraldry,  and  seems 
to  have  suggested  the  modern  seal  and  motto.  The 
L'omposition  of  these  devices  was,  as  it  is  somewhere 
called,  only  "  an  elegant  species  of  trifling ;"  but  it 
had  something  intellectual  in  it,  which  the  best  in- 
formed ladies  of  the  French  court  liked.  An  old 
author,  who  writes  upon  this  subject,  elevates  it  to  a 
degree  of  importance  rather  amusing.  "It  delights 
the  eye,"  he  says,  "  it  captivates  the  imagination,  it 
is  also  profitable  and  useful ;  and  therefore  surpasseth 
all  other  arts,  and  also  painting,  since  this  only  repre- 
sents the  body  and  exquisite  features  of  the  face, 
whereas  a  device  exposes  the  rare  ideas  and  gallant 
sentiments  of  its  author ;  it  also  excels  poetry,  inas- 
much as  it  joineth  profit  with  pleasure,  since  none 
merit  the  title  of  devices  unless  they  at  once 

*  Whittaker,  TO!,  iv.  p.  144 


62  LIFE    OF    MARY 

please  by  their  grace,  and  yield  profit  by  their  doc- 
trine." 

Mary's  partialities  were  commonly  lasting,  and 
when  in  very  different  circumstances  she  frequently 
loved  to  return  to  this  amusement  of  her  childhood. 
Some  of  the  emblems  she  invented  betray  much  ele- 
gance and  sensibility  of  mind.  On  the  death  of  her 
husband  Francis,  she  took  for  her  device  a  little 
branch  of  the  liquorice-tree,  whose  root  only  is 
sweet,  all  the  rest  of  the  plant  being  bitter,  and  the 
motto  was,  Dulce  meum  terra  tegit.  On  her  cloth 
of  state  was  embroidered  the  sentence,  En  ma  fin  es» 
won  commencement ;  "  a  riddle,"  says  Haynes,  "  1 
understand  not ;"  but  which  evidently  meant  to  in- 
culcate a  lesson  of  humility,  and  to  remind  her  that 
life,  with  all  its  grandeur,  was  the  mere  prologue  to 
eternity.  The  French  historian,  Mezeray,  mentions 
also  that  Mary  had  a  medal  struck,  on  which  was 
represented  a  vessel  in  a  storm,  with  its  masts  broken 
and  falling,  illustrated  by  the  motto,  Nunquam  nin 
rectam;  indicating  a  determination  rather  to  perish 
than  deviate  from  the  path  of  integrity.*  When  she 
was  in  England,  she  embroidered  for  the  Duke  of 
Norfolk  a  hand  with  a  sword  in  it,  cutting  vines,  with 
the  motto  Virestit  vulnere  wrtus.  In  these  and  simi- 
lar fancies,  she  imbodied  strong  and  often  original 
thoughts  with  much  delicacy. 

In  the  midst  of  these  occupations  and  amusements, 
Mary  was  not  allowed  to  forget  her  native  country. 
Frequent  visits  were  paid  her  from  Scotland,  by  those 
personally  attached  to  herself  or  her  family.  In 
1550,  her  mother,  Mary  of  Guise,  came  over  to  see 
her,  accompanied  by  several  of  the  nobility.  The 
queen-dowager,  a  woman  of  strong  affections,  was 
so  delighted  with  the  improvement  she  discovered  in 
her  daughter's  mind  and  person,  that  she  burst  into 
**ars  of  joy;  and  her  Scottish  attendants  were  hardly 

*  Mezeray,  Histoire  da  France,  torn.  iii.  p.  50. 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  63 

less  affected  by  the  sight  of  their  future  sovereign. 
Henry,  with  his  young  charge,  was  at  Rouen,  when 
the  queen-dowager  arrived.  To  testify  his  respect 
for  her,  he  ordered  a  triumph  to  be  prepared,  which 
consisted  of  one  of  those  grotesque  allegorical  exhi- 
bitions then  so  much  in  vogue ;  and,  shortly  after- 
ward, the  two  queens  made  a  public  entry  into  Paris. 
Mary  of  Guise  had  there  an  opportunity  likewise  of 
seeing  her  son  by  her  first  husband,  the  Duke  de 
Longueville,  Mary's  half-brother,  but  who  seems  to 
have  spent  his  life  in  retirement,  as  history  scarcely 
notices  him.  It  may  well  be  conceived,  that  the 
widow  of  James  V.  returned  even  to  the  regency  of 
Scotland  with  reluctance,  since  she  purchased  the 
gratification  of  her  ambition  by  a  final  separation 
from  her  children.* 

It  was  about  the  same  time  that  Mary  first  saw  Sit 
James  Melville,  who  was  then  only  a  few  years  older 
than  herself,  and  who  was  sent  over  in  the  train  of 
the  Bishop  of  Monluc,  when  he  returned  after  signing 
the  treaty  of  Edinburgh,  to  be  one  of  Mary's  pages 
of  honour.  Sir  James  was  afterward  frequently 
employed  by  the  queen  as  her  foreign  ambassador, 
and  his  name  will  appear  more  than  once  in  the 
sequel.  We  have  spoken  of  him  here  for  the  pur- 
pose of  introducing  an  amusing  anecdote,  which  he 
gives  us  in  his  own  Memoirs,  and  which  illustrates 
the  state  of  manners  at  that  period.  Upon  landing 
at  Brest,  the  bishop  proceeded  direct  to  Paris.  But 
Sir  James,  who  was  young,  and  could  hardly  have 
endured  the  fatigue  of  this  mode  of  travelling,  was 
intrusted  to  the  care  of  two  Scotch  gentlemen,  who 
had  come  over  in  the  same  ship.  Their  first  step 
was  to  purchase  three  little  "  naigies,"  on  which  they 
proposed  riding  to  Paris,  any  thing  in  the  shape  of  a 
diligence  being  out  of  the  question.  To  ensure 
greater  safety  on  the  journey,  three  others  joined  the 

*  Miss  Benger's  Memoirs,  vo)  i.  p.  189,  et  seq. 


64  LIFE.    OF    MARY 

party, — two  Frenchmen,  and  a  young  Spaniard,  who 
was  oo  his  way  to  the  college  at  Paris.  On  the 
evening  of  the  first  day,  they  arrived  at  the  town  of 
Landerneau,  where  all  the  six  were  lodged  in  one 
room,  containing  three  beds.  The  two  Frenchmen 
slept  together  in  one,  the  two  Scotsmen  in  another, 
and  Melville  and  the  Spaniard  in  the  third.  The 
company  on  the  whole  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
of  the  most  respectable  kind;  for,  as  Melville  lay 
awake,  he  heard  "  the  twa  Scotsmen  devising  how 
they  were  directed  to  let  him  want  naething ;  there- 
fore, said  they,  we  will  pay  for  his  ordinair  all  the 
way,  and  shall  count  up  twice  as  meikle  to  his  master 
when  we  come  to  Paris,  and  sae  shall  win  our  ain 
expenses."  The  two  Frenchmen,  on  their  part, 
thinking  that  nobody  in  the  room  understood  French, 
said  to  each  other,  "  These  strangers  are  all  young, 
and  know  not  the  fashion  of  the  hostelries ;  there- 
fore we  shall  deal  and  reckon  with  the  hosts  at  every 
repast,  and  shall  cause  the  strangers  pay  more  than 
the  custom  is,  and  inat  way  shall  we  save  our  ex- 
penses." At  all  this  Melville,  as  he  tells  us,  could 
not  refrain  from  "Jaughing  in  his  mind,"  and  deter- 
mined to  be  upon  h«s  guard.  "  Yet  the  twa  Scotch 
young  men,"  he  adds,  in  his  antique  phraseology, 
"  would  not  consent  that  I  should  pay  for  myself, 
hoping  still  to  beguile  the  bishop,  but  the  Spaniart 
and  I  writ  up  every  day's  compt."  The  Frenchmen, 
being  foiled  in  their  swindling  intentions,  had  re- 
course to  a  still  bolder  manoeuvre.  One  day,  as  the 
party  were  riding  through  a  wood,  two  other  French- 
men, who  had  joined  them  a  short  time  before,  sud- 
denly leaped  off  their  horses,  and,  drawing  their 
swords,  demanded  that  the  others  should  deliver  up 
their  purses.  Melville  and  his  Scotch  friends,  how- 
ever, were  not  to  be  thus  intimidated.  They  also 
drew  their  swords,  and  prepared  for  resistance ;  on 
seeing  which,  the  Frenchmen  affected  to  make  a  joke 
of  the  whole  affair,  saying  that  they  merely  wanted 


ClUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  65 

•o  try  the  courage  of  the  Scotchmen,  in  case  they 
should  have  been  attacked  by  robbers.  "But  the 
twa  last  loons,"  says  Melville,  "  left  us  at  the  next 
lodging;  and  the  twa  Scotch  scholairs  never  ob- 
tenit  payment  frae  the  bishop  for  their  pretendit 
fraud."  Sir  James  arrived  in  safety  at  Paris,  hav- 
ing taken  thirteen  days  to  ride  from  Brest  to  the 
capital.* 

Thus  diversified  by  intercourse  with  her  friends 
and  with  her  books,  by  study  and  recreation,  Mary's 
early  life  passed  rapidly  away.  It  has  been  already 
seen,  that  whatever  could  have  tended  to  corrupt  the 
mind  or  manners  was  carefully  removed  from  the 
young  queen.  As  soon  as  Mary  entered  upon  her 
teens,  she  and  her  companions,  the  two  young  prin- 
cesses, Henry's  daughters,  spent  several  hours  every 
day  in  the  private  apartment  of  Catherine  de  Medi- 
cis,  whose  conversation,  as  well  as  that  of  the  foreign 
ambassadors  and  other  persons  of  distinction  who 
paid  their  respects  to  her,  they  had  thus  an  oppor- 
tunity of  hearing.  Conaeus  mentions,  that  Mary  was 
soon  observed  to  avail  herself,  with  great  earnest- 
ness, of  these  opportunities  of  acquiring  knowledge ; 
and  it  has  been  hinted,  that  the  superior  intelligence 
she  evinced  in  comparison  with  Catherine's  own 
daughters  was  the  first  cause  of  exciting  that 
queen's  jealousy.  It  was  perhaps  at  some  of  these 
conferences  that  Mary  imperceptibly  imbibed,  from 
her  future  mother-in-law,  and  her  not  unfrequent 
visiter,  Nostradamus,  a  slight  portion  of  that  ten- 
dency to  superstitious  belief  then  so  prevalent.  One 
of  the  most  remarkable  characters  about  Henry's 
court  was  Nicolas  Cretin,  or  Nostradamus,  as  he 
was  more  commonly  called,  who  combined  in  his 
own  person  the  three  somewhat  incongruous  profes- 
sions of  physician,  astrologer,  and  philosopher.  He 
asserted,  that  he  was  not  only  perfectly  acquainted 
31—5 

*  MelTille's  Memoirs  of  his  own  Life,  p.  12. 


06  LIFE    OF    MARY 

with  the  laws  of  planetary  influence,  but  that,  by 
the  inspiration  of  Divine  power,  he  could  predict  the 
events  of  futurity.  The  style  of  his  prophecies  was 
in  general  sufficiently  obscure;  yet  such  was  the 
reverence  paid  to  learning  in  those  days  (and  Nos- 
tradamus was  a  very  library  of  learning),  that  he 
was  courted  and  consulted  even  by  the  first  states- 
men in  France.  Mary  had  far  too  lively  a  fancy  to 
escape  the  infection;  and  the  force  of  this  early 
bias  continued  to  be  felt  by  her  more  or  less  aft 
her  life. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Mary's  Marriage,  Personal  Appearance,  and  Popularity 

THE  time  now  approached  when  Henry  began  to 
think  of  confirming  the  French  authority  in  Scotland, 
by  consummating  the  contract  of  marriage  which 
had  so  long  existed  between  Francis  and  Mary. 
This  was  not,  however,  to  be  done  without  consider- 
able opposition  from  several  quarters.  The  Consta- 
ble Montmorency  and  the  house  of  Bourbon  already 
trembled  at  the  growing  influence  of  the  Guises, 
plainly  foreseeing  that  as  soon  as  the  niece  of  the 
Duke  and  Cardinal  of  Lorraine  became  wife  to  the 
dauphin,  and  consequently,  upon  Henry's  death, 
queen  of  France,  their  own  influence  would  be  at 
an  end.  It  is  not  improbable  that  Montmorency 
aimed  at  marrying  one  of  his  own  sons  to  Mary. 
At  all  events,  he  endeavoured  to  persuade  Henry  that 
he  might  find  a  more  advantageous  alliance  for 
Francis.  The  Guises,  however,  were  not  thus  to  be 
overreached;  and  the  king  more  willingly  listened 
o  their  powerful  representations  in  favour  of  the 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  67 

match,  as  it  had  long  been  a  favourite  scheme  with 
himself.  It  would  be  uncharitable  to  ascribe  to  the 
agency  of  any  of  those  who  opposed  it,  an  attempt 
which  was  made  some  time  before  by  a  person  of  the 
name  of  Stuart,  a  Scottish  archer  in  the  king's  guards, 
to  poison  Mary.  Stuart,  being  detected,  was  tried, 
condemned,  and  executed  ;  but  made  no  confession 
which  could  lead  to  any  discovery  of  his  motives. 
It  is  most  likely  that  he  had  embraced  the  Reformed 
religion,  and  was  actuated  by  a  fanatical  desire  to 
save  his  country  from  the  dominion  of  a  Catholic 
princess. 

Francis,  the  young  dauphin,  who  was  much  about 
Mary's  own  age,  was  far  inferior  to  her  both  in  per- 
sonal appearance  and  mental  endowments.  He  was 
of  a  very  weakly  constitution ;  and  the  energies  of 
his  mind  seem  to  have  been  repressed  by  the  fee- 
bleness of  his  body.  But  if  unable  to  boast  of  any 
distinguishing  virtues,  he  was  undegraded  by  the 
practice  of  any  vice.  He  was  amiable,  timid,  affec- 
tionate, and  shy.  He  was  aware  of  his  want  of 
physical  strength,  and  feared  lest  the  more  robust 
should  make  it  a  subject  of  ridicule.  He  appears  to 
have  loved  Mary  with  the  tenderest  affection,  being 
probably  anxious  to  atone  to  her,  by  every  mark  of 
devotion,  for  the  sacrifice  he  must  have  seen  she 
was  making  in  surrendering  herself  to  him  in  all  the 
lustre  of  her  charms.  Yet  there  is  good  reason  to 
believe  that  Mary  really  loved  Francis.  They  had 
been  playmates  from  infancy ;  they  had  prosecuted 
all  their  studies  together ;  and  though  Francis  cared 
little  for  the  pleasures  of  society,  and  rather  shunned 
than  encouraged  those  who  wished  to  pay  their 
court  to  him,  Mary  was  aware  that  for  this  very 
reason  he  was  only  the  more  sincere  in  his  passion 
for  her.  It  was  not  in  Mary's  nature  to  be  indifferent 
In  those  who  evinced  affection  for  her;  and  'I  .her 
fondness  for  Francis  were  mingled  with  pitj.  has 
long  been  asserted  that  "  i)it,y  is  akin  to  love  " 
I.— F 


68  LIFE    OF    MART 

On  the  24th  of  April,  1558,  the  nuptials  took 
place.  In  December,  the  preceding  year,  a  letter 
from  Henry  had  been  laid  before  the  Scotch  pailia- 
ment,  requesting  that  some  persons  of  rank  should 
be  sent  over  from  Scotland  as  commissioners  to 
witness  the  marriage ;  and  in  compliance  with  this 
desire  the  Lord  James,  Prior  of  St.  Andrews,  and 
eight  other  persons  of  distinction,  arrived  at  the 
French  court  in  March,  1558.*  Their  instructions 
commanded  them  to  guard  against  French  encroach- 
ments upon  the  rights  and  privileges  of  Scottish 
subjects ;  and  that  no  doubt  might  remain  regarding 
the  right  of  succession  to  the  Scottish  throne,  they 
were  to  obtain  from  the  King  of  France  a  ratifi- 
cation of  his  former  promise,  to  aid  and  support  the 
Duke  of  Chatelherault  in  his  claims  upon  the  crown, 
in  case  Mary  died  without  issue.  They  were  also 
to  require  a  declaration  to  a  similar  effect  from  the 
queen  and  dauphin.  All  these  demands  were  at  once 
complied  with. 

It  has  been  alleged,  however,  that  a  very  gross 
deceit  was  practised  upon  this  occasion  by  the 
French  court.  It  is  said  that  though,  to  satisfy  the 
Scotch  commissioners,  all  their  requests  were  os- 
tensibly granted,  Henry  took  secret  measures  to 
render  these  grants  entirely  inefficacious.  Mary,  it 
is  asserted,  on  the  4th  of  April  signed  three  papers,  in 
the  first  of  which  she  made  over  the  kingdom  of 
Scotland  in  free  gift  to  the  King  of  France,  to  be 
enjoyed  by  him  and  his  heirs,  should  she  die  without 

*  In  transcribing  dates,  it  may  be  proper  to  mention,  that  we  do  not 
observe  the  old  division  of  the  year.  Down  till  1563  the  French  began 
the  year  at  Easter ;  but  it  was  then  altered  to  the  1st  of  January,  by  the 
Chancellor  1'Hopital.  In  Scotland  till  1599,  and  in  England  till  1751,  the 
year  began  on  the  25th  of  March.  Thus,  in  all  the  state-papers  and  let- 
ters of  the  age  written  between  the  1st  of  January  and  the  25th  of  March, 
the  dates  invariably  belong  to  what  we  should  now  consider  the  preceding 
year.  It  is  useful  to  be  aware  of  this  fact ;  though  it  is  unnecessary  foi 
a  writer  of  the  present  day  to  deviate  from  the  established  computation 
of  time. — Anderson's  Collections,  vol.  i.  Prefact  p.  li. ;  and  Lams 
fri.i.  p  206. 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  69 

children;  in  the  second  (lest  it  might  not  be  deemed 
expedient  to  insist  upon  the  first)  she  assigned  to  the 
King  of  France  the  possession  of  Scotland,  after  her 
decease  without  children,  till  he  should  be  reim- 
bursed of  a  million  pieces  of  gold,  or  any  greater 
sum  which  he  should  be  found  to  have  expended  on  her 
during  her  residence  in  France ;  and  in  the  third  she 
protested,  that  whatever  declarations  she  might  sub- 
scribe, in  compliance  with  the  desire  of  the  Scotch 
parliament,  touching  the  lineal  succession  of  her 
crown,  the  genuine  sense  of  her  mind  was  contained 
only  in  the  two  preceding  papers.*  If  this  dishon- 
ourable transaction  really  took  place,  while  it  can- 
not involve  Mary,  a  young  and  inexperienced  girl 
of  fifteen,  in  any  serious  blame,  it  certainly  reflects 
the  highest  discredit  both  upon  Henry  and  his  ad- 
visers of  the  house  of  Guise.  There  is  good  reason, 
however,  to  believe  that  these  instruments,  though 
they  unquestionably  exist,  are  forgeries.  It  was  not 
an  uncommon  trick  in  those  times  for  the  Reformers 
to  stir  up  jealousy  against  a  Catholic  sovereign,  by 
alleging  that  he  had  promised  away  his  country  to 
some  well-known  Papist.  The  Prince  of  Conde,  in 
December,  1568,  was  not  aware  of  the  authenticity 
of  any  such  papers ;  for,  if  he  had  been,  he  would 
undoubtedly  have  mentioned  them  when  he  asked 
Elizabeth's  assistance  to  establish  the  Protestant 
religion  in  France.  On  the  contrary,  he  trumps  up 
a  ridiculous  story,  to  which  no  one  has  ever  given 
any  credit,  that  Mary  had  ceded  her  right  to  the 
crown  of  England  in  behalf  of  the  King  of  France's 
brother,  Henry  Duke  of  Anjou.  After  Mary's  death 
it  was  confidently  reported,  and  with  equal  falsehood, 
that  by  her  testament  she  had  left  England  to  the 
King  of  Spain,  unless  her  son  became  a  Roman 
Catholic.  There  is,  besides,  internal  evidence  of  a 
nature,  that  these  deeds  were  forgeries. 

Keith      .  7k. 


70  LVTF    OF    MARY 

For  its  discovery  we  v.  .0  indebted  to  the  industry  ana 
research  of  Goodall. 

Some  of  the  pro^  isions  hi  the  marriage-contract 
between  Francis  and  Mary  are  sufficiently  remark- 
able to  deserve  being  recorded.  The  jointure  as- 
signed by  it  to  the  queen,  provided  her  husband  died 
King  of  France,  is  60,000  livres,  or  a  greater  sum,  if 
a  greater  had  ever  been  given  to  a  queen  of  France. 
If  her  husband  died  only  dauphin,  the  jointure  was 
to  be  30,000  livres.  The  eldest  son  of  the  marriage 
was  to  be  King  of  France  and  Scotland ;  and  if  there 
were  no  sons,  the  eldest  daughter  was  to  be  Queen 
of  Scotland  only,  with  a  portion  of  400,000  crowns, 
as  a  daughter  of  France,— every  younger  daughter 
being  allowed  300,000  crowns.  Should  her  husband 
die,  Mary  was  to  be  at  liberty  either  to  remain  in 
France  or  return  to  Scotland,  with  an  assurance  that 
her  jointure  would  be  always  duly  paid  her.  The 
dauphin  was  to  bear  the  name  and  title  of  King  of 
Scotland,  and  enjoy  all  the  privileges  of  the  crown- 
matrimonial. 

The  marriage,  for  which  so  many  preparations 
had  thus  been  made,  was  solemnized  in  the  church 
of  Notre  Dame,  the  ceremony  being  performed  by 
the  Cardinal  of  Bourbon,  Archbishop  of  Rouen. 
Upon  this  occasion,  the  festivities  were  graced  by 
the  presence  of  all  the  most  illustrious  personages 
of  the  court  of  France ;  and  when  Francis,  taking 
a  ring  from  his  finger,  presented  it  to  the  archbishop, 
who,  pronouncing  the  benediction,  placed  it  on  the 
young  queen's  finger,  the  vaulted  roof  of  the  cathe- 
dral rung  with  congratulations,  and  the  multitude 
without  rent  the  air  with  joyful  shouts.  The  spec 
tacle  was  altogether  one  of  the  most  imposing 

*  Goodall'a  Examination,  vol.  i.  p.  159,  et  seq.     The  motto  which 
Goodall  put  upon  his  titlepage, 

"  Pandere  res  alt*  terra,  et  caligine  mersas," 
1  has  in  more  than  one  instance  amply  justified. 


QtEiSN    OF    SCOTS.  71 

which,  even  in  that  age  of  spectacles,  had  been  seen 
in  Paris.  The  procession,  upon  leaving  the  church, 
proceeded  to  the  palace  of  the  archbishop,  where 
a  magnificent  collation  was  prepared, — largess,  as 
it  moved  along,  being  proclaimed  among  the  people, 
in  the  name  of  the  King  and  Queen  of  Scots.  In 
the  afternoon,  the  royal  party  returned  to  the  palace 
of  the  Tournelles — Catherine  de  Medicis  and  Mary 
sitting  together  in  the  same  palanquin,  and  a  car- 
dinal walking  on  each  side.  Henry  and  Francis 
followed  on  horseback,  with  a  long  line  of  princes 
and  princesses  in  their  train.  The  chronicler  of 
these  nuptials  is  unable  to  conceal  his  rapture,  when 
he  describes  the  manner  in  which  the  palace  had 
been  prepared  for  their  reception.  Its  whole  appear- 
ance, he  tells  us,  was  "  light  and  beautiful  as  Ely- 
sium." During  supper,  which  was  served  upon  "a 
marble  table  in  the  great  hall,  the  king's  band  of 
**  one  hundred  gentlemen"  poured  forth  delicious 
strains  of  music.  The  members  of  parliament  at- 
tended in  their  robes ;  and  the  princes  of  the  blood 
performed  the  duty  of  servitors — the  Duke  of  Guise 
acting  as  master  of  the  ceremonies.  The  banquet 
being  concluded,  a  series  of  the  most  magnificent 
masks  and  mummeries,  prepared  for  the  occasion, 
was  introduced.  In  the  pageant,  twelve  artificial 
horses,  of  admirable  mechanism,  covered  with  cloth 
of  gold,  and  ridden  by  the  young  heirs  of  noble 
houses,  attracted  deserved  attention.  They  were 
succeeded  by  six  galleys,  which  sailed  into  the  hall, 
each  rich  as  Cleopatra's  barge,  and  bearing  on  its 
deck  two  seats,  the  one  filled  by  a  young  cavalier, 
who,  as  he  advanced,  carried  off  from  among  the 
spectators,  and  gently  placed  in  the  vacant  chair,  the 
lady  of  his  love.  A  splendid  tournament  concluded 
these  rejoicings. 

During  the  whole  of  these  solemnities,  every  eye 
was  fixed  on  the  youthful  Mary ;  and,  inspired  by 
those  feelings  which  beauty  seldom  fails  to  excite, 


72  LIFE    OF    MARY 

every  heart  offered  up  prayers  for  her  future  welfare 
and  happiness.  She  was  now  at  that  age  when  femi- 
nine loveliness  is  perhaps  most  attractive.  It  is  not  to 
be  supposed,  indeed,  that  in  her  sixteenth  year,  hei 
charms  had  ripened  into  that  full-blown  maturity 
which  they  afterward  attained ;  but  they  were,  on 
this  account,  only  the  more  fascinating.  Some  have 
conjectured  that  Mary's  beauty  has  been  extolled 
far  beyond  its  real  merits;  and  it  cannot  be  denied 
that  many  vague  and  erroneous  notions  exist  re- 
garding it.  But  that  her  countenance  possessed  in 
a  pre-eminent  degree  the  something  which  consti- 
tutes beauty  is  sufficiently  attested  by  the  unani- 
mous declaration  of  all  contemporary  writers.  It  is 
•nly,  howevei,  by  carefully  gathering  together  hints 
scattered  here  and  there,  that  any  accurate  idea  can 
be  formed  of  the  lineaments  of  a  countenance  which 
has  so  long  ceased  to  exist,  unless  in  the  fancy  of 
the  enthusiast.  Generally  speaking,  Mary's  features 
were  more  Grecian  than  Roman,  though  without 
the  insipidity  that  would  have  attached  to  them,  had 
they  been  exactly  regular.  Her  nose  exceeded  a 
little  the  Grecian  proportion  in  length.  Her  hail 
was  very  nearly  of  the  same  colour  as  James  V.'s 
— dark  yellow,  or  auburn,  and,  like  his,  clustered  in 
luxuriant  ringlets.  Her  eyes, — which  some  writers, 
misled  by  the  thousand  blundering  portraits  of  her 
scattered  every  where,  conceive  to  have  been  gray, 
or  blue,  or  hazel, — were  of  a  chestnut  colour, — 
darker,  yet  matching  well  with  her  auburn  hair. 
Her  brow  was  high,  open,  and  prominent.  Her  lips 
were  full  and  expressive,  as  the  lips  of  the  Stuarts 
generally  were ;  and  she  had  a  small  dimple  in  her 
chin.  Her  complexion  was  clear,  and  very  fair, 
without  a  great  deal  of  colour  in  her  cheeks.  Her 
mother  was  a  woman  of  large  stature,  and  Mary 
was  also  above  the  common  size.  Her  person  was 
finely  proportioned  and  her  carriage  exceedingly 
graceful  and  dignified.* 

*  Mcr.eray.  Castelnau,  Brantome,  Thuanua  Chalmers,  Miss  Bender. 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  73 

In  this  description  of  Mary's  personal  appearance 
we  have  placed  a  good  deal  of  reliance  on  the  re- 
search and  accuracy  of  Chalmers.  It  will  be  ob- 
served that  our  account  differs,  in  many  essential 
particulars,  from  that  of  Robertson,  who  says — 
"  Mary's  hair  was  black,  though,  according  to  the 
fashion  of  that  age,  she  frequently  wore  borrowed 
locks,  and  of  different  colours.  Her  eyes  were  a 
dark  gray;  her  complexion  was  exquisitely  fine; 
and  her  hands  and  arms  remarkably  delicate,  both 
as  to  shape  and  colour.  Her  stature  was  of  a 
height  that  rose  to  the  majestic."  Where  Robert- 
son discovered  that  Mary's  hair  was  black,  or  hei 
eyes  gray,  he  does  not  mention.  That  her  eyes 
were  not  black  we  have  the  direct  testimony  of  Beal, 
clerk  to  the  privy  council  of  England,  who  was 
ordered  by  Cecil  to  be  present  at  the  death  of  the 
Scottish  queen,  and  who  describes  her  as  having 
"  chestnut-coloured  eyes."  As  to  her  hair,  and  her 
other  features,  though  Melville,  in  his  Memoirs,  cer- 
tainly seems  to  imply  that  the  former  was  auburn, 
yet,  as  he  does  not  expressly  say  so,  we  suspect 
correct  conclusions  can  be  arrived  at  only  by  a  re- 
ference to  the  best  authenticated  portraits  which 
have  been  preserved  of  Mary.  This,  however,  is 
far  from  being  a  criterion  by  which  opinions  should 
be  rashly  formed.  There  are  few  persons  in  the 
whole  range  of  history,  likenesses  of  whom  have 
been  more  eagerly  sought  after ;  and  in  proportion 
to  the  anxiety  manifested  to  secure  originals  has 
been  the  temptation  to  mislead  and  deceive.  Almost 
all  the  paintings  said  to  be  originals  of  Mary  Queen 
of  Scots  are  the  impositions  of  picture-dealers. 
When  the  demand  for  these  paintings  became  gene- 
ral, it  was  not  at  all  unusual  to  despatch  emissaries 
over  the  Continent  to  pick  up  every  picture,  the 
costume  and  general  appearance  of  which  in  the 
least  resembled  the  Scottish  queen.  During  Mary's 
life,  and  for  some  time  after  her  death,  the  fame  of 


74  LIFE    OF    MARY 

her  beauty,  and  the  interest  attached  to  her  fortunes 
induced  numerous  ladies  of  rank,  who  flattered  them- 
selves that  they  were  like  her,  to  have  portraits 
painted  in  the  style  then  well  understood  by  the 
phrase  a  la  Mary  Stuart.  There  was,  in  particular, 
a  celebrated  Continental  beauty  of  those  days — a 
Countess  of  Mansfeldt  (we  speak  on  the  authority 
of  a  living  artist  of  celebrity),  who  resembled  Mary 
in  many  particulars,  and  all  whose  portraits  (nor 
were  they  few  in  number)  when  they  afterward 
came  into  the  hands  of  the  picture-dealers,  were 
affirmed  to  be  Maries.  Thus,  in  the  lapse  of  years, 
the  truth  became  so  involved  in  uncertainty,  that 
even  Robertson,  allowing  himself  to  be  too  hastily 
misled,  has  lent  his  name  to  the  dissemination  of 
error. 

Horace  Walpole,  after  having  made  extensive  in- 
quiries on  this  subject,  has  recorded  that  he  never 
could  ascertain  the  authenticity  and  originality  of  any 
portrait  of  Mary  except  of  that  in  the  possession  of 
the  Earl  of  Morton,  which  waspaintedwhenshewaa 
at  Loch  Leven.  Chalmers,  in  order  to  come  as  near 
the  truth  as  possible,  employed  Mr.  Pailou,  an  artist  of 
ability,  to  compare  the  picture  belonging  to  the  Earl 
of  Morton  with  two  or  three  other  undoubted  origi- 
nals which  have  been  discovered  since  Walpole  wrote. 
Pailou  commenced  by  sketching  the  outline  of  his 
picture  from  Lord  Morton's  original.  He  then  pro- 
ceeded to  the  examination  of  three  genuine  portraits 
of  Mary,  one  in  the  church  of  St.  Andrew  in  Ant- 
werp, another  in  the  Scotch  College  at  Douay,  and  a 
third  in  the  Scotch  College  at  Paris.  Neither  did  he 
forget  the  profile  heads  of  Mary  struck  upon  her 
coins,  nor  the  marble  figure  representing  her  on  her 
tomb  in  Henry  VII.'s  chapel,  which  Walpole  thought 
a  correct  likeness.  Mr.  Pailou  thus  made  Lord  Moi- 
ton's  picture  the  basis  of  his  own,  but  as  he  advanced 
constantly  referred  to  the  others,  "  till  he  got  the 
whole  adjusted  and  coloured."  Though  we  cannot 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS. 

exactly  approve  of  thus  cooking  up  a  picture  frorrt\ 
various  different  sources,  and  should  be  inclined  to\ 
think  that  too  much  was  left  by  such  a  mode  of  pro- 
cedure to  the  arbitrary  taste  of  the  artist,  we  never- 
theless feel  satisfied  that  Mr.  Pailou  has  hit  upon  a 
tolerably  accurate  likeness.  His  picture,  engraved 
by  Scriven,  forms  the  frontispiece  to  the  second  vo- 
lume of  Chalmers's  work.  The  brow,  eyes,  mouth, 
and  chin  he  has  given  with  great  success.  But  the 
painting  is  far  from  being  without  faults ; — the  face 
is  a  good  deal  too  round  and  plump,  the  nose  is  made 
slightly  aquiline — a  decided  mistake, — and  the  neck 
is  much  too  short,  at  least  so  it  appears  in  the  en- 
graving. 

The  portrait  of  Mary  which  forms  the  frontispiece 
to  the  present  volume,  and  on  which  we  place  greater 
reliance  than  on  any  with  which  we  are  acquainted, 
is  an  engraving  executed  expressly  for  this  work 
from  an  original  picture  of  much  merit.*  It  was 
painted  when  Mary  was  in  France,  by  an  Italian  artist 
of  eminence,  who  flourished  as  her  contemporary  in 
the  sixteenth  century,  and  whose  name  is  on  the  can- 
vass. It  would  have  been  impossible  to  say  at  what 
precise  age  it  represented  Mary,  though  from  the 
juvenility  of  the  countenance  it  might  have  been  con- 
cluded that  it  was  taken  a  year  or  two  before  she  be- 
came dauphiness,  had  not  the  painter  fortunately 
obviated  the  difficulty  by  inserting  immediately  after 
his  own  signature  the  date,  which  is  1556,  when  she 
was  just  fourteen.  It  is  upon  this  picture  that  we 
have  chiefly  founded  our  description  of  Mary's  per- 
sonal appearance.  What  gives  us  the  greater  confi- 
dence in  its  authenticity  and  accuracy  is,  that  it  very 
exactly  corresponds  with  two  other  portraits  believed 
on  good  grounds  to  be  originals.  This  is  a  strong 

*  This  picture  originally  belonged  to  Lord  Robert  Stuart,  Earl  of  Ork- 
ney, one  of  Mary's  natural  brothers,  and  is  now  in  the  possession  of 
•JVilliam  Trail,  Esq.  of  Woodwick,  Orkney,  into  whose  family  it  came 
together  with  other  relics  of  the  earl,  by  the  marriage  of  an  ancestor  of 
Mr.  Trail  to  one  of  his  descendants.  Vide  APPENDIX  A. 


76  LIFE    Of    MARY 

circumstance,  for  it  is  a  very  common  and  just  re 
mark  that  almost  no  two  likenesses  of  Mary  agree. 
The  paintings  to  which  we  allude  are,  first,  one  at  the 
seat  of  Logic  Almond,  which  represents  Mary  at  the 
same  age,  but  in  a  religious  habit.  It  gives  precisely 
the  same  view  of  the  left  side  of  the  face  as  the  en- 
graving in  this  volume  does  of  the  right.  From  the 
style  and  other  circumstances,  it  is  very  probable  that 
both  pictures  were  painted  by  the  same  artist.  The 
second  is  in  the  possession  of  his  grace  the  Duke  of 
Hamilton,  and  is  in  one  of  the  private  apartments  at 
Hamilton  palace.  It  represents  Mary  at  a  somewhat 
more  advanced  period  of  life,  but  the  features  are 
quite  the  same.  There  is  still  a  third  picture,  said  to 
be  an  original,  in  the  collection  of  the  Marquis  of  Salis- 
bury, at  Hatfield  House,  and  which  has  been  en- 
graved for  Miss  Benger's' Memoirs,  which  very  closely 
resembles  our  own.  To  be  yet  more  assured,  we 
have  carefully  exn  mined  the  heads  upon  Mary's  gold 
and  silver  coins.  Some  of  these  are  inaccurate,  but 
they  have  all  a  general  resemblance  to  each  other. 
A  silver  coin  of  1561  and  the  gold  real  stamped  in 
1562  agree  minutely  with  our  picture, — a  circum- 
stance which  cannot  but  be  considered  a  strong  cor- 
roboration  of  its  truth.  It  is  unnecessary  to  make 
any  apology  to  the  reader  for  having  entered  thus 
minutely  upon  a  subject  of  so  much  general  in- 
terest.* 

With  regard  to  the  asseverations  of  contemporary 
writers  as  to  the  effects  which  Mary's  beauty  pro- 
duced, many  of  them  are  almost  too  extravagant  to 
be  believed.  They  prove,  nevertheless,  that  what 
ever  beauty  may  be,  whether  a  mere  fortunate  ar 

*  It  is  to  the  kindness  of  John  Watson  Gordon,  Esq.,  deservedly  on* 
•f  the  most  eminent  portrait-painters  in  Scotland,  that  we  are  indebted, 
both  for  the  use  of  0  painting  from  which  the  engraving  has  been  made, 
and  for  several  of  U.  tacts  we  have  stated  above.  Mr.  Gordon  has  exe- 
cuted three  copies  of  Jhe  picture— all  of  them  exceedingly  beautiful  and 
accurate — possessing  the  merits  without  any  of  the  dusk}'  dimness  which 
'ime  has  thrown  over  the  >ri  iial. 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  77 

rangement  of  material  atoms  or  a  light  suffused  upor 
the  face  from  the  secret  and  ethereal  mind,  it  was  a 
•rift  which  Nature  had  lavishly  bestowed  on  Mary.  A 
year  or  two  previous  to  her  marriage,  when  walking 
in  a  religious  procession  through  the  streets  of  Paris 
with  a  lighted  torch  in  her  hand,  a  woman  among  the 
crowd  was  so  struck  with  her  appearance  that  she 
could  not  help  stopping  her  to  ask, — "  Are  you  not 
indeed  an  angel  ?"  Brantome,  with  more  question- 
able sincerity,  compares  her  at  the  age  of  fifteen  to 
the  sun  at  midday.  He  tell  us  also  that  the  brother 
of  Francis,  afterward  Charles  IX.,  never  saw  even 
a  picture  of  Mary  without  lingering  to  gaze  upon  it, 
declaring  passionately  that  he  looked  upon  Francis 
as  the  happiest  man  on  earth,  to  possess  a  creature  of 
so  much  loveliness.  Nay,  Brantome  even  goes  the 
length  of  asserting  that  no  man  ever  saw  Mary  who 
did  not  lose  his  heart  to  her.  He  is  pleased,  like- 
wise, with  some  na'ivet6,  to  pay  her  several  high  com- 
pliments at  the  expense  of  her  native  country.  It 
appears  that  Mary,  amid  all  the  gayeties  of  the  French 
court,  had  not  forgotten  her  early  residence  at  Inch- 
mahome,  in  the  quiet  lake  of  Monteith.  Actuated  by 
these  recollections  and  other  motives,  she  delighted 
to  testify  her  regard  for  Scotland  in  various  ways : 
and  among  others  by  frequently  wearing  in  public  the 
graceful  Highland  costume.  The  rich  and  national 
Stuart  tartan  became  her  exceedingly;  and  Bran- 
tome,  who  seems  to  have  been  greatly  puzzled  by  the 
novelty  of  the  dress,  is  nevertheless  forced  to  declare 
that  when  arrayed  after "  the  barbarous  fashion  of 
the  savages  of  her  country,  she  appeared  a  goddess 
in  a  mortal  body,  and  in  a  most  outr6  and  astonish- 
ing garb."  Mary  herself  was  so  fond  of  this  cos- 
tume that  she  wore  it  in  one  of  the  portraits  which 
were  taken  of  her  in  France.  If  she  appeared 
so  beautiful  thus  "  habilltc  a  la  sauvage,"  exclaims 
Brantome,  "what  must  she  not  be  in  her  iich  and 
ovely  robes  made  d  la  Frangaise,  ou  rEspagnole,  or 


78  LIFE    OF    MARY 

with  a  bonnet  a  fltalienne ;  or  in  her  flowing  white 
dress  contending  in  vain  with  the  whiteness  of  her 
skin! "  Even  when  she  sung  and  accompanied  her- 
self upon  the  lute,  Brantome  found  occasion  to  dis- 
cover a  new  beauty, — "  her  soft  snowy  hand  and  fin- 
gers, fairer  than  Aurora's."  "Ah  royaume  d'Escosse !" 
he  touchingly  adds,  "  Je  croy  que,  maintenant,  vos 
jours  sont  encore  bien  plus  courts  qu'ils  n'estoient, 
et  vos  nuits  plus  longues,  puisque  vous  avez  perdu 
cette  princesse  qui  vos  illuminoit !"  The  historian 
Castelnau,  in  like  manner,  pronounces  Mary  "  the 
most  beautiful  and  accomplished  of  her  sex ;"  and 
Mezeray  tells  us  that  "  Nature  had  bestowed  upon 
her  every  thing  that  is  necessary  to  form  a  complete 
beauty ;"  adding,  that  "  by  the  study  of  the  liberal 
arts  and  sciences,  especially  painting,  music,  and 
poetry,  she  had  so  embellished  her  natural  good  quali- 
ties, that  she  appeared  to  be  the  most  amiable  prin- 
cess in  Christendom."  On  the  occasion  of  her  mar- 
riage, not  only  were  the  brains  of  all  the  jewellers, 
embroiderers,  and  tailors  of  Paris  put  in  requisition, 
but  a  whole  host  of  French  poets  felt  themselves 
suddenly  inspired.  Epithalamiums  poured  in  from 
all  quarters,  spiced  with  flattery  of  all  kinds,  few  of 
which  have  been  borne  down  the  stream  of  time  so 
honourably  for  their  authors'  abilities  as  that  of  Bu- 
chanan, who,  having  long  struggled  with  poverty,  had 
at  last  risen  to  independence  under  the  patronage  of 
Cardinal  Lorraine.  This  poem  is  well  known,  but  is 
not  more  complimentary  than  that  of  Joachim  du 
Bellay,  who,  after  comparing  Mary  to  Venus,  con- 
cludes his  song  with  these  lines : — 

"Par  une  chalne  A  sa  langue  attachta 
Hercule  a  soi  les  peuple  attiroit ; 
Mai*  celle  ci  tire ceux  qu'elle  voi t 
Par  une  chalne  a  ses  beaux  yeux  aitacbfo." 

Homage  so  general  cannot  have  been  entirely  mis- 
placed, or  very  palpably  exaggerated. 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  79 

In  Scotland,  through  the  insrj*  ion  of  the  queen- 
icgent,  Mary's  nuptials,  which  were  far  from  being 
agreeable  to  a  numerous  party,  were  celebrated  with 
probably  less  sincere,  and  certainly  much  more 
homely  expressions  of  pleasure.  Orders  were  sent 
to  the  different  towns  "to  make  fyres  and  processions 
general."  Mons-Meg,  the  celebrated  great  gun  of 
Edinburgh  Castle,  was  fired  once ;  and  there  is  a 
charge  of  ten  shillings  in  the  treasurer's  accounts  of 
that  year,  paid  to  certain  persons  for  bringing  up  the 
cannon  "  to  be  schote,  and  for  the  finding  and  carrying 
of  her  bullet  after  she  was  schote  frae  Wardie  Muir 
to  the  castel  of  Edinburgh," — a  distance  of  about  two 
miles.  A  play  was  also  enacted,  but  of  what  kind 
it  is  difficult  to  say,  at  the  expense  of  the  city  of 
Edinburgh. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Mary  the  Queen-dauphiness,  the  Queen,  and  the  Queen- 
dowager  of  France. 

SHORTLY  after  the  espousals,  Mary  and  her  husband 
retired  to  one  of  their  princely  summer  residences. 
Here  she  unostentatiously  discharged  the  duties  of 
a  respectful  and  attentive  wife,  in  a  manner  which 
gained  for  her  the  admiration  of  all  who  visited 
them.  Delightful  as  society  and  amusements  must 
at  that  age  have  been  to  her,  she  readily  accommo- 
dated herself  to  the  peculiar  temper  of  Francis,  and 
seemed  willing  for  his  sake  to  resign  all  the  gayetjes 
of  the  court. 

But  the  intriguing  and  restless  ambition  of  her 
uncles  could  not  allow  her  to  remain  long  quiet 
About  this  time  Mary  Tudor,  who  had  succeeded 
Edward  VI.  on  the  English  throne,  died;  and  although 


80  LIFE    OF    MARY 

the  parliament  of  that  country  had  declared  that  the 
succession  rested  in  her  sister  Elizabeth,  it  was 
thought  proper  to  claim  for  Mary  Stuart  a  prior  right. 
The  ground  upon  which  they  built  this  claim  was  the 
following.    Henry  VIII.  married  for  his  first  wife 
Catharine  of  Arragon,  widow  of  his  brother  Arthur, 
*nd  by  her  he  had  one  child,  Mary.    Pretending,  after 
having  lived  with  her  eighteen  years,  that  his  con- 
science rebuked  him  for  making  his  brother's  wife 
the  partner  of  his  bed,  he  procured  a  divorce  from 
Catharine  for  the  purpose  of  marrying  Anne  Boleyn, 
by  whom  he  had  also  one  daughter,  Elizabeth.   Grow- 
ing tired  of  this  new  wife,  she  was  sent  to  the  scaffol' 
to  make  way  for  Jane  Seymour,  by  whom  he  had  ont 
son,  Edward.    Of  this  uxorious  monarch's  other 
three  wives  it  is  unnecessary  to  speak.    Henry  had 
procured  from  the  British  parliament  a  solemn  act, 
declaring  both  his  daughters  illegitimate,  and  he  left 
his  crown  to  Edward  VI.,  who  accordingly  succeeded 
him.   Upon  Edward's  death,  the  parliament,  rescind- 
ing their  former  act,  in  order  to  save  the  nation  from 
a  civil  war,  called  to  the  throne  Henry's  eldest 
daughter  Mary, — not,  however,  without  a  proles' 
being  entered  in  behalf  of  the  Scotch  queen  by  her 
guardians.     Upon    Mary's  death  the  opportunity 
again  occurred  of  pressing  the  claims  of  the  daughter 
of  James  V.    The  mother  of  that  king,  it  will  be 
remembered,  who  married  his  father  James  IV.,  was 
the  eltest  daughter  of  Henry  VII.,  and  sister,  conse- 
quently, of   Henry  VIII.    Henry  was,  therefore, 
Mary's    maternal   granduncle ;    and   if  his  wives 
Catharine  and  Anne  Boleyn  were  legally  divorced, 
she  had  certainly  a  better  right  to  the  English  crown 
than  any  of  their  illegitimate  offspring.    Soon  after 
the  accession,  however,  of  Edward  VI.,  the  parlia- 
ment, complying  with  the  voice  of  the  whole  nation, 
had  declared  them  legitimate ;  and  as  Elizabeth  now 
quietly  took  possession  of  the  throne,  and  could 
hardly  bj  iny  chance  have  been  dispossessed,  it  was 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  91 

to  say  the  least,  extremely  ill-advised  to  push  Mary 
forward  as  a  rival  claimant. 

For  various  reasons,  however,  this  was  tne  policy 
which  the  Guises  chose  to  pursue.  Nor  did  tho< 
proceed  to  assert  her  right  with  any  particular  deK 
cacy  or  caution.  Whenever  the  dauphin  and  his 
queen  came  into  public,  they  were  greeted  as  the 
King  and  Queen  of  England ;  and  the  English  arms 
were  engraved  upon  their  plate,  embroidered  upon 
their  scutcheons  and  banners,  and  painted  on  their 
furniture.*  Mary's  favourite  device,  also,  at  this 
time,  was  the  two  crowns  of  France  and  Scotland, 
with  the  motto,  Aliamque  moratur,  meaning  that  of 
England.  The  prediction  made  by  the  Duke  of  Alva, 
on  observing  this  piece  of  empty  parade,  was  but  too 
fatally  fulfilled,—"  That  bearing  of  Mary  Stuart's," 
said  he,  "  will  not  be  easily  borne." 

About  this  time  Mary  seems  to  have  been  attacked 
with  the  first  serious  illness  which  had  overtaken  her 
in  France.  It  was  not  of  that  acute  description 
which  confined  her  to  bed,  but  was  a  sort  of  general 
debility  accompanied  with  a  tendency  to  frequent 
fainting.  It  is  mentioned  in  Forbes's  State  Papers, 
that  on  one  occasion,  to  prevent  her  from  swooning 
in  church,  her  attendants  were  glad  to  bring  her  wine 
from  the  altar.  There  were  some  at  the  French 

*  The  coat-of-arm.s  borne  by  Francis  and  Mary  is  worth  describing. 
The  coat  was  borne  Baron  and  Femme ; — the  first  contained  the  coat  of 
the  dauphin,  which  took  up  the  upper  half  of  the  shield,  and  consisted  of 
the  arms  of  France.  The  lower  half  was  impaled  quarterly.  In  one  and 
/our  the  arms  of  Scotland,  and  in  two  and  three  those  of  England.  Over 
the  whole  was  half  an  escutcheon,  the  sinister  half  being  obscured  or  cut 
off,  to  denote  that  the  English  crown  was  in  the  possession  of  another, 
to  the  bearer's  prejudice.  Under  the  arms  were  four  lines  in  French,  thug 
wretchedly  translated  by  Strype,  in  his  "  Annals  of  Queen  Elizabeth." 

"  The  arms  of  Mary  Queen-dauphiness  of  France, 
The  noblest  lady  in  earth  for  till  advance, 
Of  Scotland  queen  and  of  England,  also 
Of  France,  as  God  hath  provide!  it  so." 

Keith,  p.  114.  Chalmers,  vol.  ii.  p.  413.  A  painting  (probably  a  copy) 
containing  these  arms,  and  the  above  motto,  is  preserved  in  Mirv's 
•partmentB  at  Holyrood  House 

81—6 


32  LIFE    OF    MARY 

court  who  would  have  felt  little  grief  had  this  illnesa 
ended  fatally,  considering  how  serious  a  blow  Mary's 
death  would  have  been  to  the  too  predominating 
influence  of  the  house  of  Guise.  In  England,  the 
news  would  have  been  particularly  agreeable  to 
Elizabeth,  whose  ambassador  at  Paris  eagerly  con- 
soled her  with  the  intelligence  that  Mary  was  not 
expected  to  be  of  long  continuance.  The  natural 
strength  of  her  constitution,  however,  soon  restored 
Her  to  her  former  health  and  spirits. 

But  it  was  destined  that  there  was  to  be  another 
and  more  unexpected  death  at  the  French  couit. 
Henry  II.,  while  exhibiting  his  prowess  at  a  tourna- 
ment, on  the  occasion  of  the  marriage  of  his  daughter 
Elizabeth  to  Philip  of  Spain,  in  July,  1559,  received 
a  wound  in  the  head  from  the  spear  of  his  antagonist, 
the  Count  Montgomery,  which,  though  apparently 
not  of  much  consequence  at  first,  occasioned  his 
dissolution  eight  days  afterward.  A  considerable 
change  immediately  took  place  in  the  aspect  of  the 
court.  The  stars  of  the  Dutchess  de  Valentinois 
and  of  the  Constable  Montmorency  set  at  once  ;  and 
that  of  Catharine  de  Medicis,  though  not  entirely 
obscured,  shone  lower  in  the  horizon.  She  was  now 
only  the  second  lady  in  France,  Mary  Stuart  taking 
the  precedence.  The  Guises  reigned  along  with  her, 
and  the  house  of  Bourbon  trembled.  Catharine, 
who  could  bear  no  superior,  more  especially  one 
young  enough  to  be  her  own  daughter,  could  ill  dis 
guise  her  chagrin.  As  a  guardian,  however,  of  hei 
late  husband's  younger  sons,  the  presumptive  heirs 
to  the  crown,  she  was  entitled  to  maintain  her  place 
and  authority  in  the  government.  There  is  a  curious 
little  anecdote  of  her  which  shows  how  much  the 
change  in  her  situation  was  preying  on  her  mind. 
As  she  was  leaving  the  palace  of  '.he  Toumelles,  to 
accompany  Francis  to  the  Louvre,  where  he  was  to 
appear  as  the  new  sovereign,  she  fell  into  a  revery, 
and  in  traversing  the  gallery,  took  a  wrong  turn  and 


UUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  83 

was  entirely  separated  from  her  party  before  she 
discovered  her  mistake.  She  soon  overtook  them, 
however,  and  as  they  passed  out,  said  to  Mary,— 
"  Pass  on,  madam,  it  is  now  your  turn  to  take  prece- 
dence." Mary  accepted  the  courtesy,  but  with  be- 
coming delicacy  insisted  that  Catharine  should  entei 
the  carriage  first.*  There  is  something  more  affecting 
in  the  change  which  Henry's  death  produced  in  the 
condition  of  the  venerable  Montmorency  and  his 
family.  He  whom  three  monarchs  had  loved  and 
respected,  who  had  given  dignity  to  their  councils, 
and  ensured  success  to  their  arms,  was  not  consid- 
ered worthy  of  remaining  in  the  palace  of  the  feeble 
and  entrammelled  Francis.  With  a  princely  retinue, 
he  retired  honourably  to  his  mansion  at  Chantilly. 

Mary  was  now  at  the  very  height  of  European 
grandeur.  The  queen  of  two  powerful  countries 
and  the  heir-presumptive  of  a  third, — in  the  flower 
of  her  age, — and,  from  her  superior  mental  endow- 
ments, much  more  worshipped,  even  in  France,  than 
her  husband,  she  affords  at  this  period  of  her  history 
as  striking  an  example  as  can  be  found  of  the  concen- 
tration of  all  the  blessings  of  fortune  in  one  person. 
She  stood  unluckily  on  too  high  and  glorious  a  pin- 
nacle to  be  able  to  retain  her  position  long,  consistent 
with  the  vices  vita  mortalium-  While  she  conducted 
herself  with  a  prudence  and  propriety  altogether  re- 
markable, considering  her  youth  and  the  suscepti- 
bility of  her  nature,  she  began  to  be  regarded  with 
suspicion  at  once  by  France,  England,  and  Scotland. 
In  France,  she  was  obliged  to  bear  the  blame  of  many 
instances  of  bigotry  and  over-severity  in  the  govern- 
ment of  her  uncles ; — in  England,  Elizabeth  took 
every  opportunity  to  load  with  opprobrium  a  sister- 
queen  whose  descent,  birth,  station,  and  accom- 
plishments were  so  much  superior  to  her  own ; — in 
Scotland,  the  Reformers,  inspired  by  James  Stuart, 

j f,  *  Miss  Benger,  vol.  ii.  p.  7. 


bv  UFE    OF   MAR\ 

who,  with  ulterior  views  of  his  own,  was  contented 
to  act  as  trie  tool  of  Elizabeth,  laboured  to  make  it 
be  believed  ih*<  Mary  was  an  uncompromising  and 
narrow-minded  Catholic. 

In  September,  1559,  Francis  was  solemnly  crowned 
at  Rheims ;  and  during  the  remainder  of  the  season 
he  and  Mary,  attended  by  their  nobles,  made  various 
progresses  through  the  country.  In  December 
Francis,  whose  health  was  evidently  giving  way 
went,  by  the  advice  of  his  physicians,  to  Blois,  cele- 
brated for  the  mildness  of  its  climate.  It  affords  a 
very  vivid  idea  of  the  ignorant  superstition  of  the 
French  peasantry  to  leam,  that  on  his  journey  thithei 
every  village  through  which  he  passed  was  deserted. 
An  absurd  story  had  been  circulated,  and  was  univer- 
sally believed,  that  the  nature  of  Francis's  com- 
plaints was  such,  that  they  could  only  be  cured  by 
the  royal  patient  bathing  in  the  blood  of  young 
children!  Francis  himself,  although  probably  not 
informed  of  the  cause,  observed  with  pain  how  he 
was  every  where  shunned;  and,  notwithstanding 
the  soothing  tenderness  of  Mary,  who  accompa- 
nied him,  is  said  to  have  exclaimed  to  the  Cardinal 
of  Lorraine,  "  What  have  I  done  to  be  thus  shunned 
and  detested  ?  They  fly  me ;  my  people  abhor  me ! 
It  is  not  thus  that  the  French  used  to  receive  their 
king."* 

Misfortunes,  it  is  said,  never  come  singly.  While 
Mary  was  performing  the  part  of  an  affectionate 
nurse  to  her  husband,  she  sustained  an  irretrievable 
loss  in  the  death  of  her  mother,  the  Scottish  regent, 
m  June,  1560;  and  in  the  December  following,  her 
husband,  Francis,  died  at  Orleans,  in  the  17th  year 
of  his  age,  and  the  17th  month  of  his  reign.f  Feel- 

*  Miss  Benger,  vol.  ii.  p.  43. 

t  Miss  Benger  erroneously  antedates  the  death  of  Francis  on  the  28th 
of  November.  See  her  Memoirs,  vol.  ii.  p.  74.  Chalmers,  who  is  th« 
very  historian  of  dates,  gives  a  copy  of  the  inscription  on  the  tnmb  •! 
Francis,  which  of  course  settles  the  point ;  vo!  ii.  p.  124.  Miss 
does  not  appear  to  have  seen  this  inscription. 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  85 

ing  that  his  exhausted  constitution  was  sinking  rap- 
idly, and  that  his  death  was  at  hand,  almost  the  last 
words  he  spoke  were  to  testify  his  affection  for 
Mary,  and  his  sense  of  her  virtues.  He  earnestly 
besought  his  mother  to  treat  her  as  her  own  daugh- 
ter, and  his  brother  to  look  upon  her  as  a  sister. 
"  He  was  a  prince,"  says  Conaeus,  "  in  whom,  had  he 
lived,  more  merit  would  probably  have  been  dis- 
covered than  most  people  suspected."*  The  whole 
face  of  things  in  France  was  by  this  event  instantly 
changed  again.  Francis  the  Little,  as  he  was  con- 
temptuously termed  by  the  French,  in  opposition  to 
his  father,  Francis  the  Great,  was  succeeded  by  his 
younger  brother,  Charles  IX.  He  being  still  a  mi- 
nor, his  mother,  Catharine,  contrived  to  get  herself 
appointed  his  guardian,  and  thus  became  once  more 
Queen  of  France, — the  nobility,  as  Chalmers  re- 
marks, being  more  inclined  to  relish  a  real  minority 
than  an  imaginary  majority.  Catharine's  jealousy 
of  Mary  Stuart  of  course  extended  itself,  with  greater 
justice,  to  her  uncles  of  Guise.  It  was  now  their 
turn  to  make  way  for  Montmorency ;  and  the  Car- 
dinal of  Lorraine,  one  of  the  most  intriguing  states- 
men of  the  age,  retired,  in  no  very  charitable  mood 
of  mind,  to  his  archbishopric  at  Rheims,  where,  in  a 
fit  of  spleen,  he  declared  he  would  devote  himself 
entirely  to  religion. 

There  is  something  exceedingly  na'ive  and  amusing 
in  Sir  James  Melville's  account  of  this  "  gret  change- 
ment."  "  The  queen-mother,"  says  he,  "  was  blyth 
of  the  death  of  King  Francis,  her  son,  because  she 
had  na  guiding  of  him,  but  only  the  Duke  of  Guise 
and  the  cardinal,  his  brother,  by  raisoun  that  the 
queen,  our  maistress,  was  their  sister's  dochter.  Sa 
the  queen-mother  was  content  to  be  quit  of  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  house  of  Guise  ;  and  for  their  cause 
(sake)  she  had  a  great  mislyking  of  our  queen."  Ol 

*  L'onams  in  Jebb,  vol.  ii.  p.  19. 


86  LIFE    OF    MARY 

Montrtorency,  who,  as  soon  as  he  heard  of  *m  al 
ness  of  Francis,  commenced  his  journey  towaids 
the  court,  he  says,  "  The  constable,  also  chargit  to 
come  to  the  court,  looked  for  na  less,  and  seamed  to 
be  seak,  making  little  journees,  caried  in  a  horse- 
litter,  drew  time  sae  lang  by  the  way,  that  the  king, 
in  the  mean  time,  died.  Then  he  lap  on  horsbak. 
and  cam  freely  to  the  court,  and  commandit,  like  a 
constable,  the  men  of  war  that  gardit  the  croun,  by 
the  Duke  of  Guise  commandement,  to  pack  them  aff 
the  toune.  The  queen-mother  was  also  very  glaid 
of  his  coming,  that  by  his  autority  and  frendship  with 
the  King  of  Navarre  she  mycht  the  better  dryve  the 
house  of  Guise  to  the  door."  Of  Mary,  who,  it  may 
well  be  supposed,  felt  this  change  more  than  any 
one,  Melville  says,  "  Our  queen,  also,  seeing  her 
friends  in  disgrace,  and  knawing  hirself  no  to  be  weil 
liked,  left  the  court,  and  was  a  sorrowful  widow  when 
I  took  my  leave  at  hir,  in  a  gentilman's  house,  four 
myle  fra Oilcans."  To  this  "gentilman's  house,"  or 
chateau,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Orleans,  Mary  had 
retired  to  shed  in  private  those  tears  which  the  death 
of  her  husband  called  forth.  In  losing  Francis,  she 
had  lost  the  playmate  of  her  childhood,  the  husband 
of  her  youth,  and,  what  by  many  women  would  be 
considered  as  serious  a  loss  as  either,  the  rank  and 
title  of  Queen  of  France.  It  was  here,  probably, 
that  she  composed  those  verses  to  the  memory  of  her 
deceased  husband  which  her  biographers  have  so 
frequently  copied,  and  which  are  so  full  of  gentle  and 
unaffected  feeling. 

Mary,  however,  was  at  this  time  a  personage  of 
too  much  importance  in  the  politics  and  affairs  of 
Europe  to  be  left  long  unmolested  to  the  indulgence 
of  that  sincere,  but  commonly  temporary  sorrow  of 
a  widow  of  eighteen.  New  suitors  were  even  now 
beginning  to  form  hopes  of  an  alliance  with  her ;  and 
two  of  the  earliest  in  the  field  were  Don  Carlos  of 
Spain  and  the  King  of  Navarre.  But  Mary  was 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS  87 

determined  to  listen  to  no  proposals  ot  a  matrimonial 
nature  till  she  had  arranged  the  plan  of  her  future 
life.  France  was  no  longer  for  her  the  country  it 
had  once  been.  Her  affectionate  father-in-law, 
Henry,  and  her  amiable  though  weak  husband,  Fran- 
cis, both  of  whom  commanded  for  her  the  first  rank 
in  the  state,  were  dead.  Her  mother  would  never 
visit  her  more ;  for  her  tomb  had  already  been  erected 
at  Rheims ;  and  her  proud  uncles  had  been  banished 
from  the  court.  Mary  had  too  high  a  spirit,  and 
knew  her  own  superiority  too  well,  to  brook  for  a 
moment  the  haughty  control  of  Catharine  de  Medicis. 
She  felt  that  not  all  the  blood  of  all  the  merchants 
of  Italy  could  ever  elevate  the  queen-dowager  to  an 
equality  with  one  who,  as  it  is  said  she  herself  once 
expressed  it,  drew  her  descent  from  a  centenary  line 
of  kings.  Catharine  felt  this  painfully,  and  the  more 
so,  that, when  Mary  once  more  made  her  appearance  at 
court,  she  perceived,  in  the  words  of  Miss  Benger, 
that  "  the  charms  of  her  conversation,  her  graceful 
address,  her  captivating  accomplishments,  had  raised 
the  woman  above  the  queen" 

In  the  mean  time,  by  the  Reformed  party  in  Scot- 
land, the  news  of  the  death  of  Francis  was  received 
with  any  thing  but  sorrow.  Knox  declared  triumph- 
antly that  "  his  glory  had  perished,  and  that  the  pride 
of  his  stubborn  heart  had  vanished  into  smoke." 
The  Lord  James,  her  natural  brother,  was  imme- 
diately deputed  by  the  Congregation  to  proceed  to 
France,  to  ascertain  whether  the  queen  intended 
returning  to  her  native  country,  and,  if  she  did,  to 
influence  her  as  much  as  possible  in  favour  of  the  true 
gospel  and  its  friends.  Nor  were  the  Catholics 
inactive  at  this  critical  juncture.  A  meeting  was 
held,  at  which  were  present  the  Archbishop  of  St. 
Andrews,  the  Bishops  of  Aberdeen,  Murray,  and 
Ross,  the  Earls  of  Huntly,  Athol,  Crawfurd,  and  Suth- 
erland, and  many  other  persons  of  distinction,  by 
whom  it  was  determined  to  send  as  their  ambassadoi 


88  LIFE    OF    MARY 

to  Mary,  John  Lesly,  afterward  Bishop  of  Ross,  and 
one  of  the  queen's  stanchest  friends,  both  during  her 
life  and  after  it.  He  was  of  course  instructed  to 
give  her  a  very  different  account  of  the  state  of  mat- 
ters from  that  which  the  Lord  James  would  do.  He 
was  to  speak  to  her  of  the  power  and  influence  of  the 
Catholic  party,  and  to  contrast  their  fidelity  both  to 
her  and  to  her  mother  with  the  rebellious  proceedings 
of  those  who  supported  the  covenant. 

The  Lord  James  went  by  the  way  of  England,  and 
Lesly  sailed  from  Aberdeen  for  Holland.  Both  made 
good  speed ;  and  Lesly  arrived  at  Vitry  in  Cham- 
pagne, where  Mary  was  then  residing,  only  one  day 
before  the  Prior  of  St.  Andrews.  He  lost  no  time  in 
gaining  admission  to  the  queen;  and  though  there  is 
little  doubt  that  his  views  were  more  sincere  and 
honourable  than  those  of  her  brother,  it  is  at  the  same 
time  very  questionable  whether  the  advice  he  gave 
her  was  judicious ;  and  it  is  probably  fortunate  that 
Mary's  good  sense  and  moderation  led  her  to  reject 
it.  Lesly  commenced  with  cautioning  her  against 
the  crafty  speeches  which  he  knew  the  Lord  James 
was  about  to  make  to  her,  assuring  her  that  his  prin- 
cipal object  was  to  insinuate  himself  into  her  good 
graces,  to  obtain  the  chief  management  of  affairs, 
and  crush  effectually  the  old  religion.  The  prior, 
Lesly  assured  her,  was  not  so  warm  in  the  cause  of 
the  Reformers  from  any  conviction  of  its  truth,  as 
from  his  wish  to  make  it  a  stepping-stone  for  his 
own  ambition.  For  these  reasons  he  advised  her  to 
bring  with  her  to  Scotland  an  armed  force,  and  te 
land  at  Aberdeen  or  some  northern  port,  where  the 
Earl  of  Huntly  and  her  other  friends  would  join  hei 
with  a  numerous  army,  at  the  head  of  which  she 
might  advance  towards  Edinburgh,  and  defeat  ai 
once  the  machinations  of  her  enemies.  The  queen. 
in  reply  to  all  this,  merely  desired  that  Lesly  should 
remain  with  her  till  she  returned  to  Scotland,  com- 
manding him  to  write,  in  the  mean  time,  to  the  lords 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  89 

and  prelates  who  sent  him,  to  inform  them  of  her 
favourable  sentiments  towards  them,  and  of  her  in- 
tention  to  come  speedily  home.* 

The  day  after  Lesly's  audience,  Mary's  old  friend 
the  Lord  James  (for  it  will  be  remembered  that  thir- 
teen years  before  he  had  come  to  France  with  her, 
and  he  had  in  the  interval  paid  her  one  or  two  visits) 
obtained  an  interview  with  his  sister.  He  had  every 
desire  to  retain  the  favourable  place  which  he  flat- 
tered himself  he  held  in  her  estimation ;  and  though 
so  rigid  a  Reformer  among  his  Scottish  friends,  his 
conscience  does  not  seem  to  have  prevented  him 
from  paying  all  the  court  he  could  to  his  Catholic 
sovereign.  In  the  course  of  his  conversation  with 
her,  he  carefully  avoided  every  subject  which  might 
have  been  disagreeable  to  Mary.  He  besought  her 
to  believe  that  she  would  not  find  the  remotest  occa- 
sion for  any  foreign  troops  in  Scotland,  as  the  whole 
nation  was  prepared  faithfully  to  obey  her.  This 
assurance  was  true,  as  it  turned  out ;  but  it  is  not 
quite  certain  whether  the  Prior  of  St.  Andrews  was 
thinking,  at  the  time,  so  much  of  its  truth  as  of  its 
being  convenient,  for  various  reasons,  that  Mary 
should  have  no  standing  force  at  her  command  in 
her  own  kingdom.  Mary  gave  to  her  brother  the 
same  general  sort  of  answer  that  she  had  previously 
given  to  Lesly.  At  the  same  time,  she  was  secretly 
disposed  to  attribute  greater  weight  to  his  arguments, 
and  treat  him  with  higher  consideration,  for  a  reason 
which  Melville  furnishes.  It  appears  that  the  French 
noblemen,  who,  on  the  conclusion  of  peace  with  Eng- 
land, had  returned  from  Scotland,  had  all  assured 
her  that  she  would  find  it  most  for  her  interest  to 
associate  in  her  councils  the  leaders  of  the  Reform- 
ers,— particularly  the  prior  himself,  the  Earl  of  Ar- 
gyle,  who  had  married  her  natural  sister,  the  Lady 
Jane  Stuart,  and  Maitland  of  Lethington. 

*  Keith,  p.  157  and  160. 


90  LIFE    OF    MART 

It  is  worthy  of  notice  that,  affairs  of  state  having 
been  discussed,  the  prior  ventured  to  speak  a  word 
or  two  for  his  own  interest.  He  requested  that  the 
earldom  of  Murray  might  be  conferred  on  him,  and 
the  queen  promised  to  attend  to  his  request  on  her 
return  to  Scotland.  Having  thus  prudently  dis- 
charged his  commission,  the  Lord  James  took  his 
leave,  visiting  Elizabeth  on  his  way  home,  as  he  had 
already  done  before  passing  over  into  France.  About 
the  same  time,  many  of  the  Scotch  nobility,  in  an- 
ticipation of  her  speedy  return,  came  to  pay  their 
duty  to  the  queen,  and  among  them  was  the  cele- 
brated Earl  of  Bothwell.* 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Mary's  Return  to  Scotland,  and  previous  Negotiations  with 
Elizabeth. 

ELIZABETH,  being  informed  of  Mary's  intended 
movements,  thought  the  opportunity  a  favourable 
one  for  adjusting  with  her  one  or  two  of  their  mutual 
disagreements.  Mary's  refusal  ,to  ratify  the  cele- 
brated treaty  of  Edinburgh  had  particularly  galled 
the  English  queen.  Most  of  the  essential  articles  of 
that  treaty  had  already  been  carried  into  effect ;  and 
as  Francis  and  Mary  had  sent  their  ambassadors  inta 
Scotland  with  full  powers,  they  were  bound,  accord- 
ing to  the  ordinary  laws  of  diplomacy,  to  agree  to 
whatever  concessions  their  plenipotentiaries  made. 
But,  as  Robertson  has  remarked,  Cecil  "  had  proved 
greatly  an  overmatch  for  Monluc."  In  the  sixth 
article,  which  was  by  far  the  most  offensive  to  the 
Scottish  queen,  he  had  got  the  French  delegates  to 

*  Keith,  p.  100,  et  *eq. 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  91 

consent  to  a  declaration,  that  Francis  and  Mary 
should  abstain  from  using  and  bearing  the  title  and 
arms  of  the  kingdom  of  England,  not  only  during 
the  life  of  Elizabeth,  but  "in  all  times  coming" 
There  was  here  so  palpable  a  departure  from  all  law 
and  justice,  that  if  there  was  ever  a  case  in  which 
a  sovereign  was  justified  in  refusing  to  sanction  the 
blunders  of  his  representatives,  it  was  this.  Robert- 
son's observations  on  the  point  are  forcible  and  cor- 
rect. "The  ratification  of  this  article,"  says  he, 
•'  would  have  been  of  the  most  fatal  consequence  to 
Mary.  The  crown  of  England  was  an  object  worthy 
of  her  ambition.  Her  pretensions  to  it  gave  her  great 
dignity  and  importance  in  the  eyes  of  all  Europe. 
By  many  her  title  was  esteemed  preferable  to  that 
of  Elizabeth.  Among  the  English  themselves,  the 
Roman  Catholics,  who  formed  at  that  time  a  nume- 
rous and  active  party,  openly  espoused  this  opinion; 
and  even  the  Protestants,  who  supported  Elizabeth's 
throne,  could  not  deny  the  Queen  of  Scots  to  be  her 
immediate  heir.  A  proper  opportunity  to  avail  her- 
self of  all  these  advantages  could  not,  in  the  course 
of  things,  be  far  distant,  and  many  incidents  might 
fall  u.  to  bring  this  opportunity  nearer  than  was  ex- 
pected. In  these  circumstances,  Mary,  by  ratifying 
the  article  in  dispute,  would  have  lost  that  rank  which 
she  had  hitherto  held  among  neighbouring  princes ; 
the  zeal  of  her  adherents  must  have  gradually  cooled; 
and  she  might  have  renounced,  from  that  moment,  all 
hopes  of  ever  wearing  the  English  crown." 

Mary,  therefore,  cannot  be,  in  fairness,  blamed  for 
her  conduct  regarding  this  treaty.  But,  as  has  been 
already  said,  she  allowed  herself  to  be  persuaded  to 
a  very  great  imprudence,  when  she  advanced  what 
she  declared  to  be  a  present  and  existing  claim  on 
the  English  crown.  This  was  an  aggravation  of  the 
offence,  which  Elizabeth  could  never  pardon.  She 
determined  to  retort  upon  Mary  as  efficiently,  though 
not  quite  so  directly.  She  found  means  to  hint  to 

IT.— H 


;>-  LIFE    OF    MARY 

her  friends  in  Scotland,  that  it  would  n^t  be  disagtee- 
able  to  her  were  the  Earl  of  Arran,  eldest  son  of  the 
Duke  of  Chatelherault,  and,  after  his  father,  presump- 
tive heir  to  the  throne,  to  propose  himself  to  her  as 
a  husband.  This  was  accordingly  done,  and  must 
have  touched  Mary  very  closely,  especially  as  she 
had  no  children  by  her  husband  Francis.  But  as 
Elizabeth  had  never  any  serious  intention  of  accept- 
ing of  Arran's  proposals,  she  was  resolved  upon  taking 
another  and  much  more  unjustifiable  method  of  harass- 
ing Mary. 

Knowing  that  she  possessed  the  command  of  the 
seas,  the  English  queen  imagined  that  she  had  it  in 
her  power  to  prevent,  if  she  chose,  Mary's  return  to 
her  own  kingdom.  Before  granting  her,  therefore, 
as  in  common  courtesy  she  was  bound  to  do,  a  free 
passage,  she  determined  on  seizing  the  opportunity 
for  again  pressing  the  ratification  of  the  treaty  of 
Edinburgh.  With  this  view,  she  desired  Sir  Nicolas 
Throckmorton,  her  ambassador  at  Paris,  to  wait  on 
the  Queen  of  Scots,  ostensibly  to  congratulate  her 
on  her  recovery  from  an  attack  of  ague,  but  in  reality 
to  press  this  matter  upon  her  attention.  The  au- 
dience which  Mary  granted  to  Throckmorton  .ipon 
this  occasion,  together  with  another  which  she  gave 
him  a  few  weeks  afterward,  introduce  us  to  her,  foi 
the  first  time,  acting  for  herself,  in  her  public  and 
important  capacity  of  Queen  of  Scotland.  All  histo- 
rians unite  in  expressing  their  admiration  of  the  tal- 
ented and  dignified  manner  in  which  she  conducted 
herself,  though  only  in  her  nineteenth  year.  We 
have  fortunately  a  full  account  of  both  conferences, 
furnished  by  Sir  Nicolas  Throckmorton  himself,  in 
his  letters  to  the  Queen  of  England. 

The  ambassador,  on  his  first  interview,  having  ex 
pressed  Elizabeth's  happiness  at  Mary's  recovery, 
proceeded  to  renew  the  demand  which  had  so  fre- 
quently been  made  to  her  regarding  the  treaty  of 
Edinburgh      Mary,  in  answer,  said  that  she  begged 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  9Jl 

to  thank  the  queen  her  good  sister  for  her  congratu- 
lations, and  though  she  was  not  yet  in  perfect  health, 
she  thanked  God  for  her  evident  convalescence.  As 
to  the  treaty  of  Edinburgh,  she  begged  to  postpone 
giving  any  final  ...iswer  in  the  affair  until  she  had 
taken  the  advice  of  the  nobles  and  estates  of  her 
own  realm.  "  For  though  this  matter,"  she  said, 
"  doth  touch  me  principally,  yet  doth  it  also  touch 
the  nobles  and  estates  of  my  realm  ;  and,  therefore, 
it  is  meet  that  I  use  their  advice  therein.  Heretofore 
they  have  seemed  to  be  grieved  that  I  should  do  any 
thing  without  them,  and  now  they  would  be  more 
offended  if  I  should  proceed  in  this  matter  of  myself 
without  their  advice."  She  added,  that  she  intended 
to  return  home  soon,  and  that  she  was  about  to  send 
an  ambassador  to  Elizabeth,  to  require  of  her  the 
common  favour  of  a  free  passage  which  princes 
usually  ask  of  each  other  in  such  cases.  In  a  spirit 
of  conciliation  and  sound  policy,  she  concluded  with 
these  words.  "  Though  the  terms  wherein  we  have 
stood  heretofore  have  been  somewhat  hard,  yet  I 
trust  that  from  henceforth  we  shall  accord  together 
as  cousins  and  good  neighbours.  I  mean  to  retire 
all  the  Frenchmen  from  Scotland  who  have  given 
jealousy  to  the  queen  my  sister,  and  miscontent  to 
my  subjects  ;  so  that  I  will  leave  nothing  undone  to 
satisfy  all  parties,  trusting  the  queen  my  good  sister 
will  do  the  like,  and  that  from  henceforth  none  of 
my  disobedient  subjects  shall  find  aid  or  support  at 
her  hands."  Seeing  that  Mary  was  not  to  be  moved 
from  the  position  she  had  taken  regarding  this 
treaty,  Throckmorton  went  on  to  sound  her  upon  the 
subject  of  religion.  His  object  was  to  ascertain 
what  course  she  intended  to  pursue  towards  the 
Scottish  Reformers.  Mary  stated  to  him  distinctly 
her  views  upon  this  important  matter,  and  there  was 
a  consistency  and  moderation  in  them  hardly  to  have 
been  expected  from  the  niece  of  the  Cardinal  of 
Lorraine,  had  we  not  been  previously  aware  of  the 


94  LIFE    OF    MARY 

strength  of  her  superior  miiul.  "  I  will  be  plain  with 
you,"  said  she  to  the  ambassador.  "  The  religion 
which  I  profess  I  take  to  be  most  acceptable  to  God 
and,  indeed,  I  neither  know,  nor  desire  to  know,  any 
«»ther.  Constancy  becometh  all  people  well,  but 
none  better  than  princes,  and  such  as  have  rule  over 
realms,  and  especially  in  matters  of  religion.  I  have 
been  brought  up  in  this  religion,  and  who  might  credit 
me  in  any  thing  if  I  should  show  myself  light  in  this 
case."  "  I  am  none  of  those,"  she  added,  "  that  will 
change  their  religion  every  year ;  but  I  mean  to  con- 
strain none  of  my  subjects,  though  I  could  wish  that 
they  were  all  as  I  am;  and  I  trust  they  shall  have 
no  support  to  constrain  me."  It  will  be  seen,  in  the 
sequel,  whether  Mary  ever  deviated  for  a  moment 
from  the  principles  she  here  laid  down.  Throck- 
morton  ventured  to  ask,  if  she  did  not  think  many 
errors  had  crept  into  her  church,  and  whether  she 
had  ever  seriously  weighed  the  arguments  in  support 
of  the  Reformed  opinions.  "Though  I  be  young, 
and  not  well  learned,"  she  replied,  modestly,  "  yet 
have  I  heard  this  matter  oft  disputed  by  my  uncle, 
my  lord  cardinal,  with  some  that  thought  they  could 
say  somewhat  in  the  matter;  and  I  found  no  great 
reason  to  change  my  opinion.  But  I  have  oft  heard 
him  confess,  that  great  errors  have  come  into  the 
church,  and  great  disorder  among  the  ministers  and 
clergy,  of  which  errors  and  disorders  he  wished  there 
might  be  a  reformation."  Here  this  conference  con- 
eluded.* 

Elizabeth,  as  soon  as  she  understood  that  Mary 
waited  for  the  advice  of  her  privy  counsellors  and 
her  parliament  before  ratifying  the  treaty  of  Edin- 
burgh, addressed  a  letter  to  the  "  states  of  Scotland," 
as  she  was  pleased  to  term  them,  but,  in  point  of  fact, 
only  to  her  old  allies  the  lords  of  the  Congregation. 
The  object  of  this  letter  was  to  convey,  in  haughtv 

*  Keith,  p  165.  et  seq. 


QUEEN    OF   SCuTS.  95 

and  even  insolent  terms,  a  threat  that,  unless  they 
secured  their  queen's  assent  to  the  treaty,  they  might 
cease  to  look  for  any  aid  or  protection  from  her.  In 
other  words,  its  meaning  was  this: — Through  my 
interference,  you  have  been  able  to  establish  the  new 
Gospel ;  your  queen  you  know  to  be  a  Catholic ;  and 
as  it  is  not  unlikely  that  she  may  associate  in  her 
councils  your  old  enemies  the  Catholic  nobility,  it  is 
hi  me  you  trust  to  enable  you  to  rebel  successfully 
against  your  lawful  sovereign.  But  I  have  no  inten- 
tion to  give  you  my  support  for  nothing ;  and  unless 
your  reformed  consciences  will  permit  of  your  in- 
sisting that  Mary  Stuart  shall  sign  away  her  heredi- 
tary right  of  succession  to  the  English  throne,  I  shall 
henceforth  have  nothing  more  to  do  with  you.  No 
other  interpretation  can  be  put  on  such  expressions  as 
the  following,  couched  in  terms  whose  meaning 
sophistry  itself  could  not  hide.  "In  a  matter  so 
profitable  to  both  the  realms,  we  think  it  strange  that 
your  queen  hath  no  better  advice ;  and  therefore  we 
do  require  ye  all,  being  the  states  of  that  realm  upon 
whom  the  burden  resteth,  to  consider  this  matter 
deeply,  and  to  make  us  answer  whereunto  we  may 
trust.  And  if  you  shall  think  meet  she  shall  thus 
leave  the  peace  imperfect,  by  breaking  of  her  solemn 
promise,  contrary  to  the  order  of  all  princes,  we  shall 
be  well  content  to  accept  your  answer,  and  shall  be 
as  careless  to  see  the  peace  kept,  as  ye  shall  give  us 
cause;  and  doubt  not,  by  the  grace  of  God,  but 
whosoever  of  ye  shall  incline  thereto,  shall  soon- 
est repent.  You  must  be  content  with  our  plain 
writing." 

To  this  piece  of  "  plain  writing,"  the  Reformers, 
probably  at  the  instigation  of  the  Lord  James,  sent 
a  submissive  and  cringing  answer.  "  Your  majesty," 
they  say,  "may  be  well  assured,  that  in  us  shall  be 
noted  no  blame,  if  that  peace  be  not  ratified  to  your 
majesty's  contentment." — "  The  benefit  that  we  have 
received  is  so  recent,  that  we  cannot  suddenly  bury 


96  LIFE    OF    MARY 

it  in  forgetfulness.  We  would  desire  yom  majesty 
rather  to  be  persuaded  of  us,  that  we,  to  our  powers 
will  study  to1  leave  it  in  remembrance  to  our  pos- 
terity." In  other  words, — Whatever  our  own  queen 
Mary  may  determine  on  doing,  we  shall  remain 
steady  to  your  interests,  and  would  much  rathei 
quarrel  with  her  than  with  you.  To  this  state  of 
mind  had  Elizabeth's  machinations  contrived  to  bring 
the  majority  of  the  young  queen's  subjects.* 

In  the  mean  time,  Mary  had  sent  an  ambassadoi 
into  England  to  demand  a  safe-conduct  for  her  ap- 
proaching voyage.  This  was  expressly  refused; 
and  Throckmorton  was  again  ordered  to  request  an 
audience  with  Mary,  to  explain  the  motives  of  this 
refusal.  "  In  this  conference,"  observes  Robertson, 
"  Mary  exerted  all  that  dignity  and  vigour  of  mind 
of  which  she  was  so  capable,  and  at  no  period  of  her 
life  were  her  abilities  displayed  to  greater  advan- 
tage." Throckmorton  had  recourse  to  the  endless 
subject  of  the  treaty  of  1560,  or,  as  it  is  more  com- 
monly called,  the  treaty  of  Edinburgh,  as  the  apology 
his  mistress  offered  for  having,  with  studied  dis- 
respect, denied  the  suit  made  by  Mary's  ambassador, 
in  the  presence  of  a  numerous  audience — a  direct 
breach  of  courtly  etiquette.  Mary,  before  answering 
Throckmorton,  commanded  all  her  attendants  to 
retire,  and  then  said, — "  I  like  not  to  have  so  many 
witnesses  of  my  passions  as  the  queen,  your  mistress, 
was  content  to  have,  when  she  talked  with  M.  D'Oy- 
sel.  There  is  nothing  that  doth  more  grieve  me, 
than  that  I  did  so  forget  myself  as  to  require  of  the 
queen,  your  mistress,  that  favour,  which  I  nad  no 
need  to  ask.  I  may  pass  well  enough  home  into  my 
own  realm,  I  think,  without  her  passport  or  license 
for,  though  the  late  king,  your  master,  used  all  the 
impeachment  he  could,  both  to  stay  me  and  catch 
me,  when  I  came  hither,  yet  you  know,  M.  1'Amba*. 

*  Keith,  p.  107,  et  wq. 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  9? 

sadeur,  I  came  hither  safely,  and  I  may  have  as  good 
means  to  help  me  home  again,  if  I  could  employ  my 
friends."  "  It  seemeth,"  she  added,  with  much  truth, 
"  that  the  queen,  your  mistress,  maketh  more  account 
of  the  amity  of  my  disobedient  subjects,  than  she 
doth  of  me,  their  sovereign,  who  am  her  equal  in 
degree,  though  inferior  in  wisdom  and  experience, 
her  nighest  kinswoman,  and  her  next  neighbour." 
She  then  proceeded  very  forcibly  to  state,  once  more, 
her  reasons  for  refusing  to  ratify  the  treaty.  It  had 
been  made,  she  said,  during  the  life  of  Francis  II., 
who,  as  her  lord  and  husband,  was  more  responsible 
for  it  than  she.  Upon  his  death,  she  ceased  to  look 
for  advice  to  the  council  of  France,  neither  her  uncles 
nor  her  own  subjects,  nor  Elizabeth  herself,  thinking 
it  meet  that  she  should  be  guided  by  any  council  but 
that  of  Scotland.  There  were  none  of  her  ministers 
with  her ;  the  matter  was  important ;  it  touched  both 
them  and  her ;  and  she,  therefore,  considered  it  her 
duty  to  wait,  till  she  should  get  the  opinions  of  the 
wisest  of  them.  As  soon  as  she  did,  she  undertook 
to  send  Elizabeth  whatever  answer  might  appear  to 
be  reasonable.  "  The  queen,  your  mistress,"  ob- 
served Mary,  "saith  that  I  am  young;  she  might  say 
that  I  were  as  foolish  as  young,  if  I  would,  in  the 
state  and  country  that  I  am  in,  proceed  to  such  a 
matter,  of  myself,  without  any  counsel;  for  that 
which  was  done  by  the  king,  my  late  lord  and  hus- 
band, must  not  be  taken  to  be  my  act ;  and  yet  I  will 
say  truly  unto  ye,  and  as  God  favours  me,  I  did  never 
mean  otherwise  unto  the  queen,  your  mistress,  than 
becometh  me  to  my  good  sister  and  cousin,  nor  meant 
her  any  more  harm  than  to  myself.  God  forgive 
them  that  have  otherwise  persuaded  her,  if  there  be 
any  such." 

It  may  seem  strange,  that  as  the  sixth  article  was 

the  only  one  in  the  whole  treaty  of  Edinburgh  which 

occasioned  any  disagreement,  it  was  not  proposed 

to  make  some  alteration  in  it,  which  might  have  ren- 

31—7 


JJfc  LIFE    OF    MARY 

dered  it  satisfactory  to  all  parlies.  Mary  would 
have  had  no  objection  to  have  given  up  all  claim 
upon  the  crown  of  England  during  the  lifetime  of 
Elizabeth,  and  in  favour  of  children  born  by  her  in 
lawful  wedlock,  if,  failing  these  children,  her  own 
right  was  acknowledged.  There  could  have  been 
little  difficulty,  one  would  have  thought,  in  express- 
ing the  objectionable  article  accoidingly.  But  this 
amendment  would  not  by  any  means  have  suited  the 
views  of  Elizabeth.*  To  have  acknowledged  Mary's 
right  of  succession  would  have  been  at  once  to  have 
pointed  out  to  all  the  Catholics  of  Europe  the  person 
to  whom  they  were  to  pay  their  court,  on  account 
not  only  of  her  present  influence,  but  of  the  much 
greater  which  awaited  her.  Besides,  it  might  have 
had  the  appearance  of  leaving  it  doubtful  whether 
Elizabeth's  possession  of  the  throne  was  not  conceded 
to  her  more  as  a  favour  than  as  a  right.  This  ex- 
treme jealousy  on  the  part  of  the  English  queen 
originated  in  Mary  having  imprudently  allowed  her- 
self to  be  persuaded  to  bear  the  arms  of  England 
diversely  quartered  with  her  own,  at  the  time  Eliza- 
beth was  first  called  to  the  crown.  At  the  interview 
we  have  been  describing,  Throckmorton  being  si- 
lenced with  regard  to  the  ratification  of  the  treaty, 
thought  he  might  with  propriety  advert  to  this  other 
subject  of  complaint. 

"  I  refer  it  to  your  own  judgment,  madam,"  said 
he,  "  if  any  thing  can  be  more  prejudicial  to  a  prince, 
than  to  usurp  the  title  and  interest  belonging  to 
him."  Mary's  answer  deserves  particular  attention. 
"  M.  1'Ambassadeur,"  said  she, "  I  was  then  under  the 
commandment  of  King  Henry  my  father,  and  of  the 

*  Robertson  says  that  the  amendment  would  not  have  been  approved 
of  by  "  either  queen."  He  alleges  that  Mary  had  only  "  suspended" 
the  prosecution  of  her  title  to  the  English  crown ;  and  that  "  she  deter- 
mmed  to  revive  her  claim  on  the  first  prospect  of  success."  That  Rob- 
ertson has  in  this  instance  done  injustice  to  Mary  is  erident  from  the 
exact  consistency  of  her  future  conduct  with  what  will  be  found  stated 
in  the  text. 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  99 

King  my  lord  and  husband ;  and  whatsoever  was  then 
done  by  their  order  and  commandments,  the  same 
was  in  like  manner  continued  until  both  their  deaths ; 
since  which  time  you  know  I  neither  bore  the  arms  nor 
used  the  title  oj England.  Methinks,"  she  added, 
"  these  my  doings  might  ascertain  the  queen  your 
mistress,  that  that  which  was  done  before  was  done 
by  commandment  of  them  that  had  power  over  me ; 
and  also,  in  reason,  she  ought  to  be  satisfied,  seeing 
I  (now)  order  my  doings  as  I  tell  ye."  With  this 
answer  Throckmorton  took  his  leave.* 

Seeing  that  matters  could  not  be  more  amicably 
adjusted,  Mary  prepared  to  return  home,  independ- 
ent of  Elizabeth's  permission.  Yet  it  was  not  with- 
out many  a  bitter  regret  that  she  thought  of  leaving 
all  the  fascinations  of  her  adopted  country,  France. 
When  left  alone,  she  was  frequently  found  in  tears ; 
and  it  is  more  than  probable  that,  as  Miss  Benger  has 
expressed  it,  there  were  moments  when  Maiy  recoiled 
with  indescribable  horror  from  the  idea  of  living  in 
Scotland — where  her  religion  was  insulted  and  her 
sex  contemned ;  where  her  mother  had  languished  in 
misery,  and  her  father  sunk  into  an  untimely  grave." 
At  last,  however,  the  period  arrived  when  it  was  ne- 
cessary for  her  to  bid  a  final  adieu  to  the  scenes  and 
friends  of  her  youth.  She  had  delayed  from  month 
to  month,  as  if  conscious  that  in  leaving  France  she 
was  about  to  part  with  happiness.  She  had  origin- 
ally proposed  going  so  early  as  the  spring  of  1561, 
but  it  was  late  in  July  before  she  left  Paris ;  and  as 
she  lingered  on  the  way,  first  at  St.  Germains,  and 
afterward  at  Calais,  August  was  well  advanced  be- 
fore she  set  sail.  The  spring  of  this  year,  says  Bran- 
tome  poetically,  was  so  backward  that  it  appeared 

*  Keith,  p.  170,  et  seq.  Robertson  say?,  that  at  the  period  of  these 
conferences  Mary  was  only  in  her  eighteenth  year ;  but  as  they  both  took 
place  in  1561,  she  must  have  been  in  her  nineteenth  year,  which  Keith 
confirms,  who  says  (page  178),  "  The  readers,  having  now  perused  seve- 
ral original  conferences,  will,  1  suppose,  clearly  discern  the  fine  spirit  and 
geniusof  that  princess,  who  was  yet  but  in  the  nineteenth  year  of  her  age 


100  LIFE    OF    MARY 

sis  if  it  would  never  put  on  its  robe  of  flowers ;  and 
thus  gave  an  opportunity  to  the  gallants  of  the  court 
to  assert,  that  it  wore  so  doleful  a  garb  to  testify  its 
sorrow  for  the  intended  departure  of  Mary  Stuart.* 
She  was  accompanied  as  far  as  St.  Germains  by 
Catharine  de  Medicis  and  nearly  all  the  French 
court.  Her  six  uncles,  Anne  of  Este,  and  -many 
other  ladies  and  gentlemen  of  distinction,  proceeded 
on  with  her  to  Calais.  The  historians  Castelnau 
and  Brantome  were  both  of  the  queen's  retinue,  and 
accompanied  her  to  Scotland.  At  Calais  she  found 
four  vessels,  one  of  which  was  fitted  up  for  herself 
and  friends,  and  a  second  for  her  escort;  the  two 
others  were  for  the  furniture  she  took  with  her. 

Elizabeth,  meanwhile,  was  not  inattentive  to  the 
proceedings  of  the  Scottish  queen.  Through  the 
agency  of  her  minister,  Cecil,  she  had  been  anxiously 
endeavouring  to  discover  whether  she  would  render 
herself  particularly  obnoxious  either  to  Catharine  de 
Medicis  or  the  leading  men  in  Scotland,  by  making 
herself  mistress  of  Mary's  person  on  her  passage 
homewards,  and  carrying  her  a  prisoner  into  Eng- 
land. Her  ambassador,  Throckmorton,  had  given 
her  good  reason  to  believe  that  Catharine  was  not 
disposed  to  be  particularly  warm  in  Mary's  defence. f 
As  to  Scotch  interference,  Camden  expressly  informs 
us,  that  the  Lord  James,  when  he  passed  through 
England  on  his  return  from  France,  warned  Elizabeth 
of  Mary's  intended  movements,  and  advised  that  she 
should  be  intercepted.  This  assertion,  though  its 
truth  has  been  doubted,  is  rendered  exceedingly  prob- 
able by  the  contents  of  two  letters  which  have  been 
preserved.  The  first  is  from  Throckmorton,  who 

*  Brantome  in  Jebb,  rol.  ii.  p.  82. 

t  Keith,  p.  175.  Throckmorton  writes,  "  Thereto  the  qieen-rnother 
said,  The  king,  my  son,  and  I  would  be  glad  to  do  good  betwixt  the 
queen,  my  sister,  your  mistress,  and  the  queen,  my  daughter,  and  shall 
be  glad  to  hear  that  there  were  good  amity  betwixt  them ;  Tor  neither 
the  king,  my  son,  nor  I,  nor  any  or  his  council,  will  do  harm  in  the  mat- 
ter, or  show  oursetvu  other  than  friends  to  them  both." 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  101 

assures  Elizabeth  that  the  Lord  James  deserves  hei 
most  particular  esteem ; — "  Your  majesty,"  he  says, 
**  may,  in  my  opinion,  make  good  account  of  his  con- 
stancy towards  you ;  and  so  he  deserveth  to  be  well 
entertained  and  made  of  by  your  majesty,  as  one  that 
may  stand  ye  in  no  small  stead  for  the  advancement 
of  your  majesty's  desire.  Since  his  being  here  (in 
France),  he  hath  dealt  so  frankly  and  liberally  with 
me,  that  I  must  believe  he  will  so  continue  after  his 
return  home."*  The  other  letter  is  from  Maitland 
of  Lethington,  one  of  the  ablest  men  among  the 
Scotch  Reformers,  and  the  personal  friend  and  co- 
adjutor of  the  Lord  James,  to  Sir  William  Cecil.  In 
this  letter  he  says ; — "  I  do  also  allow  your  opinion 
anent  the  queen  our  sovereign's  journey  towards 
Scotland,  whose  coming  hither,  if  she  be  enemy  to 
the  religion,  and  so  affected  towards  that  realm  as 
she  yet  appeareth,  shall  not  fail  to  raise  wonderful 
tragedies."  He  then  proceeds  to  point  out,  that,  as 
Elizabeth's  object,  for  her  own  sake,  must  be  to  pre- 
vent the  Catholics  from  gaining  ground  in  Scotland, 
her  best  means  of  obtaining  such  an  object  is  to  pre- 
vent a  queen  from  returning  into  the  kingdom  who 
"  shall  so  easily  win  to  her  party  the  whole  Papists, 
and  so  many  Protestants  as  be  either  addicted  to  the 
French  faction,  covetous,  inconstant,  uneasy,  igno- 
rant, or  careless." — "  So  long  as  her  highness  is  ab- 
sent," he  adds,  "  in  this  case  there  is  no  peril ;  but 
you  may  judge  what  the  presence  of  a  prince  being 
craftily  counselled  is  able  to  bring  to  pass."  "  For 
my  opinion,"  he  concludes,  "  anent  the  continuance 
of  amity  betwixt  these  two  realms,  there  is  no  dan- 
ger of  breach  so  long  as  the  queen  is  absent ;  but  her 
presence  may  alter  many  things."! 

To  make  assurance  doubly  sure,  Cecil  desired 
Randolph,  the  English  resident  in  Scotland,  to  feel 
the  pulse  of  the  nobility.  On  the  9th  of  August, 
1561,  only  a  few  days  before  Mary  sailed  fr<  it 

*  Kfith,  p.  164  t  IbM.,  Appendix,  p.  92 


102  LIFE    OF    MARY 

France,  Randolph  wrote  from  Edinburgh  an  epistle 
to  Cecil,  in  which  he  assures  him  that  it  will  be  a 
"  stout  adventure  for  a  sick  crazed  woman"  (a  sin- 
gulai  mode  of  designating  Mary)  to  venture  home 
to  a  country  so  little  disposed  to  receive  her.  "  I 
have  shown  your  honour's  letters,"  he  says,  "unto 
the  Lord  James,  Lord  Morton,  Lord  Lethington; 
they  wish,  as  your  honour  doth,  that  she  might  be 
stayed  yet  for  a  space;  and  if  it  were  not  for  theit 
obedience1  sake,  some  of  them  care  not  tho1  they  nevtr 
saw  her  face" — And  again, — "  Whatsomever  cometh 
of  this,  he  (Lethington)  findeth  it  ever  best  that  she 
come  not."  Knox  also,  it  seems,  had  been  written 
to,  and  had  expressed  his  resolution  to  resist  to  the 
last  Mary's  authority.  "  By  such  letters  as  ye  have 
last  received,"  says  Randolph,  "  your  honour  some- 
what understandeth  of  Mr.  Knox  himself,  and  also 
of  others,  what  is  determined, — he  himself,  to  abide 
the  uttermost,  and  others  never  to  leave  him,  until 
God  hath  taken  his  life." — "  His  daily  prayer  is,  for 
the  maintenance  of  unity  with  England,  and  that 
God  will  never  suffer  men  to  be  so  ungrate  as  by 
any  persuasion  to  run  headlong  unto  the  destruction 
of  them  that  have  saved  their  lives,  and  restored 
their  country  to  liberty."* 

Elizabeth,  having  thus  felt  her  way,  and  being 
satisfied  that  she  might  with  safety  pursue  her  own 
inclinations,  was  determined  not  to  rest  contented 
with  the  mere  refusal  of  passports.  Throckmorton 
was  ordered  to  ascertain  exactly  when  and  how 
Mary  intended  sailing.  The  Scottish  queen  became 
aware  of  his  drift,  from  some  questions  he  put  to 
her,  and  said  to  him,  cuttingly, — "  I  trust  the  wind 
will  be  so  favourable,  as  I  shall  not  need  to  come 
on  the  coast  of  England ;  and  if  I  do,  then  M.  1'Am- 
bassadeur,  the  queen,  your  mistress,  shall  have  me 
in  her  hands  to  do  her  will  of  me ;  and  if  she  be  so 
hard-hearted  as  to  desire  my  end,  she  may  then  do 

*  Robertson,  Appendix,  No.  5,  from  the  Cotton  Library 


OF    SCOTS.  103 

her  pleasure,  and  make  sacrifice  of  me.  Peradven- 
ture,  that  casualty  might  be  better  for  me  than  to 
live."  Throckmorton,  however,  made  good  his 
point,  and  was  able  to  inform  Elizabeth  that  Mary 
would  sail  either  from  Havre-de-Grace  or  Calais, 
and  that  she  would  first  proceed  along  the  coast  of 
Flanders,  and  then  strike  over  to  Scotland.  For  the 
greater  certainty,  he  suggested  the  propriety  of  some 
spies  being  sent  across  to  the  French  coast,  who 
would  give  the  earliest  intelligence  of  her  move- 
ments. Profiting  by  this  and  other  information,  all 
the  best  historians  of  the  time  agree  in  stating,  that 
Elizabeth  sent  a  squadron  to  sea  with  all  expedition. 
It  was  only  a  thick  and  unexpected  fog  which  pre- 
vented these  vessels  from  falling  in  with  that  in 
which  Mary  sailed.  The  smaller  craft  which  car- 
ried her  furniture  they  did  meet  with,  and  believing 
them  to  be  the  prize  they  were  in  search  of,  they 
boarded  and  examined  them.  One  ship  they  de- 
tained, in  which  was  the  Earl  of  Eglinton,  and  some 
of  Mary's  horses  and  mules,  and,  under  the  pretence 
of  suspecting  it  of  piracy,  actually  carried  it  into  an 
English  harbour.  The  affectation  of  "  clearing  the 
seas  from  pirates,"  as  Cecil  expresses  it,  was  a 
mere  after-thought,  invented  to  do  away  with  the 
suspicion  which  attached  itself  to  this  unsuccessful 
attempt.  Its  real  purpose  was  openly  talked  of  at 
the  time.  Sir  Nicholas  Bacon,  lord  keeper,  in  a 
speech  he  made  at  a  meeting  of  the  privy  council 
in  1562,  said,  frankly, — "  Think  ye  that  the  Scottish 
queen's  suit,  made  in  all  friendly  manner,  to  come 
through  England  at  the  time  she  left  France,  and  the 
denial  thereof  unless  the  treaty  were  ratified,  is  by 
them  forgotten,  or  else  your  sending  of  your  ships  to 
sea  at  the  time  of  her  passage  1"  Camden,  Holinshed, 
Spottiswoode,  Stranguage,  and  Buchanan,  all  speak 
to  the  same  effect;  and  Elizabeth's  intentions, 
though  frustrated,  hardly  admit  of  a  doubt.* 

*  Keith,  p.  178  ;  Chalmers,  vol.  ii.  p.  4 18 ;  Stranguage,  p.  9 ;  and  Frea 
•aim.  p.  19. 


104  LIFE    OF    MART 

On  the  25th  of  August,  1561,  Mary  sailed  out  of 
tlie  harbour  of  Calais, — not  without  shedding]  and 
seeing  shed  many  tears.  She  did  not,  however,  part 
with  all  the  friends  who  had  accompanied  her  to  the 
coast.  Three  of  her  uncles, — the  Duke  d'Aumale, 
the  Marquis  D'Elbeuf,  and  the  grand  prior, — the 
Duke  Danville,  son  to  Montmorency,  and  afterward 
Constable  of  France,  one  of  the  most  ardent  and 
sincere  admirers  that  Mary  perhaps  ever  had, — and 
many  other  persons  of  rank,  among  whom  was  the 
unfortunate  poet  Chatelard,  who  fluttered  like  a 
moth  round  the  light  in  which  he  was  to  be  con- 
sumed,— sailed  with  her  for  Scotland.  Just  as  she 
left  the  harbour,  an  unfortunate  accident  happened 
to  a  vessel,  which,  by  unskilful  management,  struck 
upon  the  bar,  and  was  wrecked  within  a  very  short 
distance  of  her  own  galley.  "  This  is  a  sad  omen,*1 
she  exclaimed,  weeping.  A  gentle  breeze  sprang 
up ;  the  sails  were  set,  and  the  little  squadron  got 
under  way,  consisting,  as  has  been  said,  of  only  four 
vessels,  for  Mary  dreaded  lest  her  subjects  should 
suppose  that  she  was  coming  home  with  any  mili- 
tary force.  The  feelings  of  "  la  Reine  5/ancA«,"  as 
the  French  termed  her,  from  the  white  mourning 
she  wore  for  Francis,  were  at  all  times  exceedingly 
acute.  On  the  present  occasion,  her  grief  amounted 
almost  to  despair.  As  long  as  the  light  of  day  con- 
tinued, she  stood  immoveable  on  the  vessel's  deck, 
gazing  with  tearful  eyes  upon  the  French  coast,  and 
exclaiming  incessantly, — "Farewell,  France!  fare- 
well, my  beloved  country !"  When  night  approached, 
and  her  friends  besought  her  to  retire  to  the  cabin 
she  hid  her  face  in  her  hands,  and  sobbed  aloud. 
•*  The  darkness  which  is  now  brooding  over  France," 
said  she,  "  is  like  the  darkness  in  my  own  heart." 
A  little  afterward,  she  added, — "I  am  unlike  the 
Carthaginian  Dido,  for  she  looked  perpetually  on  the 
sea,  when  .ffineas  departed,  while  all  my  regards 
are  for  the  land."  Having  caused  a  bed  to  be  mad« 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  lOf 

for  her  on  deck,  she  wept  herself  asleep,  previously 
enjoining  her  attendants  to  waken  her  at  the  first 
peep  of  day,  if  the  French  coast  was  still  visible. 
Her  wishes  were  gratified ;  for  during  the  night  the 
wind  died  away,  and  the  vessel  made  little  progress. 
Mary  rose  with  the  dawn,  and  feasted  her  eyes  once 
more  with  a  sight  of  France.  At  sunrise,  however, 
the  breeze  returned,  and  the  galley  beginning  to 
make  way,  the  land  rapidly  receded  in  the  distance. 
Again  her  tears  burst  forth,  and  again  she  exclaimed, 
— "  Farewell,  beloved  France !  I  shall  never,  never 
see  you  more."  In  the  depth  of  her  sorrow,  she 
even  wished  that  the  English  fleet,  which  she  con- 
jectured had  been  sent  out  to  intercept  her,  would 
make  its  appearance,  and  render  it  necessary  for 
her  to  seek  for  safety,  by  returning  to  the  port 
from  whence  she  had  sailed.  But  no  interruption 
of  this  kind  occurred.* 

It  is  more  than  likely  that  it  was  during  this  voy- 
age Mary  composed  the  elegant  and  simple  little 
song  so  expressive  of  her  genuine  feelings  on  leav- 
ing France.  Though  familiarly  known  to  every 
reader,  we  cannot  deny  ourselves  the  pleasure  of 
inserting  it  here. 

Adieu,  plaisant  pays  de  France ! 
O  my  patrie, 
La  plus  cherie ; 

Qui  a  nourri  ma  jeune  enfance. 
Adieu,  France  !  adieu,  mes  beaux  jours! 
La  nef  qui  dejoint  mes  amours, 
N'a  cy  de  moi  que  la  moitii ; 
Une  parte  te  reste ;  elle  est  tienne ; 
Je  la  fie  a  ton  amitie, 
Pour  qne  de  Pautre  il  te  souvienne !  t 

*  Brantome  in  Jebb,  vol.  li.  p.  483,  et  seq. ;  Keith,  p.  179 ;  and  Free- 
burn,  p.  16.  et  seq. 

t  Several  translations  of  this  song  have  been  attempted,  bat  no 
translation  can  preserve  the  spirit  of  the  original . 

Adieu,  thou  pleasant  land  of  France  . 

The  dearest  of  all  lands  to  me, 
Where  life  was  like  a  joyful  dance— 
The  joyful  dance  of  infancy. 


106  LIFE    OF    MARY 

Branlome,  who  sailed  in  the  same  vessel  with 
Mary,  and  gives  a  particular  account  of  all  the 
events  of  this  voyage,  mentions,  that  the  day  before 
entering  the  Frith  of  Forth,  so  thick  a  mist  came  on, 
that  it  was  impossible  to  see  from  the  poop  to  the 
prow.  By  way  of  precaution,  lest  they  should  run 
foul  of  any  other  vessel,  a  lantern  was  lighted,  and 
set  at  the  bow.  This  gave  Chatelard  occasion  to 
remark,  that  it  was  taking  a  very  unnecessary  piece 
of  trouble,  so  long  at  least  as  Mary  Stuart  remained 
upon  deck,  and  kept  her  eyes  open.  When  the  mist 
at  length  cleared  away,  they  found  their  vessel  in 
the  midst  of  rocks,  from  which  it  required  much  skill 
and  no  little  labour  to  get  her  clear.  Mary  declared, 
that  so  far  as  regarded  her  own  feelings,  she  would 
not  have  looked  upon  shipwreck  as  a  great  calamity ; 
but  that  she  would  not  wish  to  see  the  lives  of  the 
friends  who  were  with  her  endangered  (among  whom 
not  the  least  dear  were  her  four  Maries)  for  all  the 
kingdom  of  Scotland.  She  added,  that  as  a  bad 
omen  had  attended  her  departure,  so  this  thick  fog 
seemed  to  be  but  an  evil  augury  at  her  arrival.  At 
length,  the  harbour  of  Leith  appeared  in  sight,  and 
Mary's  eye  rested,  for  the  first  time,  upon  Arthur 
Seat  and  the  castle  of  Edinburgh. 


Farewell  my  childhood's  laughing  wiles. 

Farewell  the  joys  or  youth's  bright  day  ; 
The  bark  that  bears  me  from  thy  smiles, 

Bears  but  my  meaner  half  away. 
The  best  is  thine ;— my  changeless  bean 

Is  given,  beloved  France !  to  thee  ; 
And  let  it  sometimes,  though  we  part, 

Remind  thee  with  a  sigh  of  me. 

Mary  was  not  the  only  one  who  commemorated  in  verse  her  depart 
ure  from  France.  Numerous  vaudevilles  were  written  upon  the  occa- 
sion, several  of  which  are  preserved  in  the  Anthologie  Francaise. 


QT7F.EN    OF 'SCOTS.  107 


CHAPTER  VII. 

tfary'a  Arrival  at  Holyrood,  with  Sketches  of  her  pitnnptu 
Nobility. 

MARY  landed  in  Scotland  with  a  mind  full  of  anxiety 
and  uncertainty.  She  came  alone  and  unprotected, 
to  assume  the  government  of  a  country  which  had 
long  been  distinguished  for  its  rebellious  turbulence. 
The  masculine  spirit  of  her  father  had  quailed  before 
the  storm.  Her  mother,  whose  intellectual  energy 
she  well  knew,  had  in  vain  attempted  to  bring  order 
out  of  confusion,  and  harassed  and  worn  out,  had  at 
length  surrendered  her  life  in  the  struggle.  For  the 
last  two  years,  it  is  true,  the  country  had  enjoyed, 
not  peace  and  tranquillity,  but  a  cessation  from  an 
actual  state  of  warfare.  Nevertheless,  the  seeds  of 
discontent,  and  of  mutual  distrust  and  hatred,  were 
as  abundant  as  ever.  Marj's  religion  was  well 
known ;  and  her  confirmed  devotion  to  it  was  by 
one  party  magnified  into  bigotry,  and  pronounced 
criminal ;  while  by  another  it  was  feared  she  would 
show  herself  too  lukewarm  in  revenging  the  insults 
which  the  ancient  worship  had  sustained.  Such 
being  the  state  of  things,  how  could  a  young,  and 
comparatively  inexperienced  queen,  just  nineteen 
years  of  age,  approach  her  kingdom  otherwise 
than  with  fear  and  trembling  1 

Contrasted  too  with  her  former  situation,  that 
which  she  was  now  about  to  fill  appeared  particu- 
larly formidable.  In  France,  even  during  the  life  of 
her  husband,  and  while  at  the  very  height  of  her 
power,  few  of  the  severer  duties  of  government  rested 
upon  her.  She  had  all  the  essential  authority, 

I.— I 


108  LIFE 'OF    MART 

without  much  of  the  responsibility  of  a  sovereign. 
Francis  consulted  her  upon  every  occasion,  and  fol- 
lowed her  advice  in  almost  every  matter  in  which 
she  chose  to  interfere ;  but  it  was  to  him  or  her 
uncles  of  Guise  that  the  nation  looked  when  any 
of  the  state-machinery  went  wrong.  It  would  be 
very  different  in  Scotland.  By  whatever  counsel 
she  acted,  the  blame  of  all  unpopular  measures 
would  be  sure  to  rest  with  her.  If  she  favoured  the 
Protestants,  the  Catholics  would  renounce  her;  if 
she  assisted  the  Catholics,  the  Protestants  would 
again  be  found  assembling  at  Perth,  listening,  with 
arms  in  their  hands,  to  the  sermons  of  John  Knox, 
pulling  down  the  remaining  monasteries,  and  sub- 
scribing additional  covenants.  Is  it  surprising,  then, 
that  she  found  it  difficult  to  steer  her  course  between 
the  rocks  of  Scylla  and  the  whirlpools  of  Chary  bdis  ? 
If  misfortunes  ultimately  overtook  her,  the  wonder 
unquestionably  ought  to  be,  not  that  they  ever  ar- 
rived, but  that  they  should  have  been  guarded 
Hgainst  so  long.  Nothing  but  the  wisest  and  most 
temperate  policy  could  have  preserved  quietness  in 
a  country  so  full  of  the  elements  of  internal  discord. 
Mary's  system  of  government  throughout  all  its 
ramifications  must  have  been  such  as  no  queen  of 
her  age  could  have  established,  had  there  not  been 
more  than  an  empty  compliment  in  those  lines  of 
Buchanan,  in  which  he  addresses  his  royal  mistres* 
as  one 

"  Quae  sortem  antevenis  mentis,  virtutibus  an  DOS, 
Sexum  animis,  morum  nobilitate  genus." 

There  is,  besides,  a  natural  feeling  of  loyalty, 
which,  though  it  may  be  evanescent,  hardly  fails  to 
be  kindled  in  the  breasts  of  the  populace  at  the 
sight  of  their  native  sovereign.  The  Scots,  though 
they  frequently  were  far  from  being  contented  with 
the  measures  pursued  by  their  monarchs,  have  been 
always  celebrated  for  their  attachment  to  their  per- 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  109 

sons.  Mary,  on  her  first  landing,  became  aware  of 
this  truth.  As  soon  as  it  was  known  that  she  intended 
returning  from  all  the  splendours  of  France  to  the 
more  homely  comforts  of  the  land  of  her  birth,  the 
people,  flattered  by  the  preference  she  was  about  to 
show  them,  abated  somewhat  of  their  previous  as- 
perity. They  were  the  more  pleased  that  she  came 
to  them,  not  as  the  Queen  of  France,  who  might 
have  regarded  Scotland  as  only  a  province  of  her 
empire,  but  as  their  own  exclusive  and  independent 
sovereign.  They  recollected  that  she  had  been  at 
the  disposal  of  the  estates  of  the  country  from  the 
time  she  wns  seven  days  old,  and  they  almost  felt 
as  if  she  had  been  a  child  of  their  own  rearing. 
They  knew,  also,  that  she  had  made  a  narrow 
escape  in  crossing  the  seas ;  and  the  confidence  she 
evidently  placed  in  them,  by  casting  anchor  in  Leith 
Roads,  with  only  two  galleys,  did  not  pass  unnoticed. 
But  she  had  arrived  sooner  than  was  expected ;  for, 
so  little  were  they  aware  of  her  intended  motions, 
that  when  her  two  ships  were  first  observed  in  the 
Frith,  from  the  castle  of  Edinburgh,  no  suspicion 
was  entertained  that  they  carried  the  queen  and  her 
suite.  It  was  not  till  a  royal  salute  was  fired  in 
the  Roads  that  her  arrival  was  positively  known, 
and  that  the  people  began  to  flock  in  crowds  to  the 
shore. 

On  the  20th  or  21st  of  August,  1561,  the  queen 
landed  at  Leith.  Here  she  was  obliged  to  remain 
the  whole  day,  as  the  preparations  for  her  reception 
at  Holyrood  House  were  not  completed.  The  multi- 
tude continued  in  the  interval  to  collect  at  Leith,  and 
on  the  roads  leading  to  the  palace.  On  the  road 
between  Leith  and  Restalrig,  and  from  thence  to 
the  abbey,  the  different  trades  and  corporations  of 
Edinburgh  were  drawn  up  in  order,  lining  the  way 
with  their  banners  and  bands  of  music.  Towards 
evening,  horses  were  brought,  for  the  queen  and  her 
attendants.  When  Mary  saw  them,  accustomed  as 


110  LIFE    OF    MARY 

she  had  been  to  the  noble  and  richly  caparisoned 
steeds  of  the  Parisian  tournaments,  she  was  struck 
both  with  the  inferiority  of  their  breed  and  the  poor- 
ness of  their  furnishings.  She  sighed,  and  could  not 
help  remarking  the  difference  to  some  of  her  friends. 
"  But  they  mean  well,"  said  she,  "  and  we  must  be 
content."  As  she  passed  along,  she  was  every  where 
greeted  with  enthusiastic  shouts  of  applause — the 
involuntary  homage  which  the  beauty  of  her  coun- 
tenance, the  elegance  of  her  person,  and  the  graceful 
dignity  of  her  bearing  could  not  fail  to  draw  forth. 
Bonfires  were  lighted  in  all  directions,  and  though 
illuminations  were  then  but  indifferently  understood 
in  Scotland,  something  of  the  kind  seems  to  have 
been  attempted.  On  her  arrival  at  the  palace  all  the 
musicians  of  Edinburgh  collected  below  her  win- 
dows, and  in  strains  of  most  discordant  music  con- 
tinued all  night  to  testify  their  joy  for  her  return. 
Some  of  the  more  rigid  Reformers,  willing  to  yield 
in  their  own  way  to  the  general  feeling,  assembled 
together  in  a  knot,  and  sung  psalms  in  her  honour 
Among  the  musical  instruments  the  bagpipes  were 
pre-eminently  distinguished,  which,  not  exactly  suit 
ing  the  uncultivated  taste  of  Brantome,  he  patheti- 
cally exclaims,  "  He !  quelle  musique !  et  quel  repos 
pour  sa  nuit  !"* 

It  is  worth  while  remarking  here  how  Knox,  in  his 
History  of  the  Reformation,  betrays  his  chagrin  at 
the  affectionate  manner  in  which  Mary  was  received. 
"  The  very  face  of  the  heavens  at  the  time  of  her 
arrival,"  he  says,  "  did  manifestly  speak  what  com- 

*  Jebb,  vol.  ii.  p.  484 ;  Keith,  p.  180;  Miss  Benger,  vol.  ii.  p.  125.  In 
an  anonymous  French  work,  entitled  "  Histoire  de  Marie  Stuart,  Heine 
d'Ecosse  et  de  France,"  <kc.,  respectably  written  on  the  whole,  there  is 
an  amusing  mistake  concerning  the  locality  of  Holyrood  House.  In  torn 
i.  p.  181,  it  is  said,  "The  queen  landed  at  Leith,  and  then  departed  for 
Llslebourg  (the  name  anciently  given  to  Edinburgh),  a  celebrated  ab- 
bey a  mile  or  two  distant.  In  this  abbey  Mary  remained  for  three  weeks, 
and  in  the  month  of  October,  1501 ,  took  her  departure  for  Edinburgh." 
This  departure  for  Edinburgh  alludes  to  the  visit  which  Mary  paid,  « 

art  time  after  her  arrival,  to  the  castle. 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  Ill 

tort  was  brought  into  this  country  with  her,  by  sor- 
row, dolor,  darkness,  and  all  impiety ;  for  in  the 
memory  of  man  that  day  of  the  year  was  never  seen  a 
more  dolorous  face  of  the  heavens  than  was  at  her 
arrival,  which  two  days  after  did  so  continue ;  for, 
besides  the  surface  wet,  and  the  corruption  of  the  air, 
the  mist  was  so  thick  and  dark  that  scarce  could  any 
man  espy  another  the  length  of  two  pair  of  butts. 
The  sun  was  not  seen  to  shine  two  days  before  nor 
two  days  after.  That  forewarning  gave  God  to  us, 
but,  ala's  !  the  most  part  were  blind."*  Knox  pro- 
ceeds to  reprobate,  in  the  severest  terms,  the  unhal- 
lowed amusements  which  Mary  permitted  at  Holy- 
rood  House.  "  So  soon  as  ever  her  French  fillocks, 
fiddlers,  and  others  of  that  band,  got  the  house  alone, 
there  might  be  seen  skipping  not  very  comely  for 
honest  women.  Her  common  talk  was,  in  secret, 
that  she  saw  nothing  in  Scotland  but  gravity,  which 
was  altogether  repugnant  to  her  nature,  for  she  was 
brought  up  in  joyeusitye."  If  Knox  really  believed 
in  the  omens  he  talks  of,  or  thought  the  less  of  a 
young  and  beautiful  woman  for  indulging  in  inno- 
cent recreation,  his  judgment  is  to  be  pitied.  If  he, 
in  truth,  did  not  give  any  credence  to  the  one,  and 
saw  no  sin  in  the  other,  his  candour  and  sincerity 
cannot  be  very  highly  praised. 

M'Crie,  the  able  but  too  partial  biographer  of  Knox, 
and  the  defender  of  all  his  errors  and  failings,  speak- 
ing of  Mary  at  this  period,  says — "  Nursed  from  her 
infancy  in  a  blind  attachment  to  the  fioman  Catholic 
religion,  every  means  had  been  employed  before  she 
left  France  to  strengthen  this  prejudice,  and  to  inspire 
her  with  aversion  to  the  religion  which  had  been  em- 

*  The  day  that  his  late  majesty  George  IV.  arrived  at  Loith,  in  August, 
1832  (whose  landing  and  progress  to  Holy  rood  House,  though  much  more 
brilliant,  resembled  in  some  respects  that  of  his  ancestor  Mary),  was  as 
v«et  and  unfavourable  as  the  weather  so  piously  described  by  Knox.  Waa 
this  a  "  forewarning"  also  of  the  "  comfort"  our  gracious  sovereign  broaght 
into  the  country  ?  If  Knox  believed  in  warnings,  there  is  no  telling  u 
what  conclusions  these  warnings  might  have  led. 


112  LIFE    OF    MARY 

braced  by  her  people.  She  was  taught  that  it  would 
be  the  great  glory  of  her  reign  to  reduce  her  kingdom 
to  the  obedience  of  the  Romish  see,  and  to  co-ope- 
rate with  the  Popish  princes  on  the  continent  in  ex- 
tirpating heresy.  With  these  fixed  prepossessions 
Mary  came  into  Scotland,  and  she  adhered  to  them 
with  singular  pertinacity  to  the  end  of  her  life."f 
The  whole  of  this  statement  is  in  the  highest  degree 
erroneous.  We  have  seen  that  Mary  was  not  nursed 
in  a  blind  attachment  to  the  Catholic  religion;  some 
of  her  best  friends,  and  even  one  or  two  of  her  pre- 
ceptors, being  attached  to  the  new  opinions.  We 
have  seen,  that  so  far  from  having  any  "preju- 
dice" strengthened  before  she  left  France,  she  was 
expressly  advised  to  give  her  support  to  the  Reform- 
ers ;  and  we  have  heard  from  her  own  lips  her  ma- 
ture determination  to  tolerate  every  species  of  wor- 
ship throughout  her  kingdom.  That  she  ever  thought 
of  "  co-operating  with  the  Popish  princes  of  the  con- 
tinent, that  she  might  reduce  her  kingdom  to  the 
obedience  of  the  Romish  see,  and  extirpate  heresy," 
will  be  discovered  immediately  to  be  a  particularly 
preposterous  belief,  when  we  find  her  intrusting  the 
reins  of  government  to  the  leaders  of  the  Reformed 
party.  To  this  system  of  moderation,  much  beyond 
that  of  the  age  in  which  she  lived,  Mary  adhered 
"  with  singular  pertinacity  to  the  end  of  her  life." 
M'Crie,  in  proof  of  his  gratuitous  assertions,  affirms, 
that  she  never  examined  the  subjects  of  controversy 
between  the  Papists  and  Protestants.  This  also  is 
incorrect,  as  he  would  have  known,  had  he  read  that 
letter  of  Throckmorton's,  in  which,  as  has  been  seen, 
she  informed  the  ambassador  of  the  frequent  oppor- 
tunities she  had  enjoyed  of  hearing  the  whole  matter 
discussed  in  the  presence  of  the  Cardinal  of  Lorraine ; 
and  the  confession  which  that  discussion  extorted 
both  from  the  cardinal  and  herself,  of  the  necessity 
of  some  reformation  among  the  Catholics,  though 

*  M'Crifr-s  Life  of  Knox,  rol.  U.  p.  S» 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  113 

not  to  the  extent  to  which  the  Protestants  pushed  it. 
M'Crie  further  objects,  that  Mary  never  went  to  hear 
Knox,  or  any  of  the  Reformed  divines,  preach.  Knox, 
from  the  invariable  contempt  with  which  he  affected 
to  treat  Mary,  no  doubt  particularly  deserved  such  a 
compliment ;  and  as  to  the  other  divines,  by  all  of 
whom  she  was  hated,  what  would  have  been  the  use 
of  leaving  her  own  chapel  to  listen  to  sermons  which 
could  not  have  altered  the  firm  conviction  of  her 
mind,  and  which,  consequently,  it  would  have  been 
nypocrisy  to  pretend  to  admire  1  We  return  from 
this  digression. 

The  nobility,  who  now  flocked  to  Holyrood  from 
all  parts  of  the  country,  constituted  that  portion  of 
the  inhabitants  of  Scotland  who,  for  many  centuries, 
had  exercised  almost  unlimited  influence  over  their 
native  sovereigns.  Their  mutual  dissensions  during 
the  late  long  minority  had  a  good  deal  weakened 
their  respective  strength ;  and  the  progress  of  time 
was  gradually  softening  the  more  repulsive  features 
of  the  feudal  system.  But  still  the  Scottish  barons 
deemed  themselves  indispensable  to  the  councils  of 
their  monarch,  and  entitled  to  deliver  opinions  which 
they  expected  would  be  followed  on  every  affair  of 
state.  They  collected  at  present  under  the  influence 
of  a  thousand  contending  interests  and  wishes.  With 
some  of  the  more  distinguished  figures  in  the  group 
it  will  be  necessary  to  make  the  reader  better  ac- 
quainted. 

Of  the  Lord  James,  who  was  now  shortly  to  be- 
come the  Earl  of  Murray,  the  title  by  which  he  is 
best  known  in  Scottish  history,  a  good  deal  has 
already  been  said.  That  he  must  secretly  have 
regretted  his  sister's  return  to  Scotland  may  be  safely 
concluded  from  the  facts  formerly  stated.  He  was 
too  skilful  a  politician,  however,  to  betray  his  disap- 
pointment. Had  he  openly  ventured  to  oppose  Mary, 
the  result  would  have  been  at  all  events  uncertain, 
and  his  own  ruin  might  have  been  the  ultimate  con- 
31—8 


114  LIFE    OF    MARY 

sequence.  He  considered  it  more  prudent  to  use 
every  means  in  his  power  to  conciliate  her  friend- 
ship;  and  wrought  so  successfully  that  before  long 
he  found  himself  the  person  of  by  far  the  most  con- 
sequence in  the  kingdom.  Mary,  perhaps,  trusted 
too  implicitly  to  his  advice,  and  left  too  much  to  his 
control ;  yet  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  she  could  have 
managed  otherwise.  It  is  but  fair  also  to  add,  that 
for  several  years  Murray  continued  to  keep  his  am- 
bition (which,  under  a  show  of  moderation,  was  in 
truth  enormous)  within  bounds.  Nor  does  there 
appear  to  be  any  evidence  sufficient  to  stamp  Mur- 
ray with  that  deeper  treachery  and  blacker  guilt 
which  some  writers  have  laid  to  his  charge.  The 
time,  however,  is  not  yet  arrived  for  considering 
his  conduct  in  connexion  with  the  darker  events  of 
Mary's  reign.  The  leading  fault  of  his  administra- 
tion is,  that  it  was  double-faced.  In  all  matters  of 
importance  he  allowed  himself  to  be  guided  as  much 
by  the  wishes  of  Elizabeth,  secretly  communicated 
to  him,  as  by  those  of  his  own  sovereign.  He  prob- 
ably foresaw,  that  if  he  ever  quarrelled  with  Mary, 
it  would  be  through  the  assistance  of  the  English 
queen  alone  he  could  hope  to  retrieve  his  fortunes. 
This  subservience  to  Elizabeth  among  those  in  whom 
she  confided  was,  indeed,  the  leading  misfortune  of 
Mary's  reign.  Had  her  counsellors  been  unbiassed, 
and  her  subjects  undistracted  by  English  intrigue, 
her  prudent  conduct  would  have  got  the  better  of  the 
internal  dissensions  in  her  kingdom,  and  she  would 
have  governed  in  peace,  perhaps  in  happiness.  But 
it  was  Elizabeth's  jealous  and  narrow-minded  policy 
to  prevent,  if  possible,  this  consummation.  With 
infinite  art,  and,  if  the  term  is  not  debased  by  its 
application,  with  no  little  ability,  she  accomplished 
her  wishes,  principally  through  the  agency  of  the 
ambitious  and  the  self-interested  among  Mary's  min- 
isters. One  of  these  the  Earl  of  Murray  unques- 
tionably was.  At  the  time  of  which  we  are  writing 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  115 

he  was  in  his  thirty-first  year,  possessing  consider- 
able advantages  both  of  face  and  person,  but  of 
reserved,  austere,  and  rather  forbidding  manners. 
Murray's  mother,  who  was  the  Lady  Margaret  Ers- 
kine,  daughter  of  Lord  Erskine,  had  married  Sir  Rob- 
ert Douglas  of  Loch  Leven.  He  had  also,  as  has 
been  mentioned,  several  illegitimate  brothers,  par- 
ticularly Lord  John  and  Lord  Robert,  and  one  sister, 
Jane,  who  married  the  Earl  of  Argyle,  and  to  whom 
Mary  became  very  sincerely  attached. 

Associated  with  the  Earl  of  Murray,  both  as  a 
leader  of  the  Reformers  and  as  a  servant  of  Elizabeth, 
but  not  allowing  his  ambitious  views  to  carry  him 
quite  so  far  as  the  earl,  was  William  Maitland  of 
Lethington,  Mary's  secretary  of  state.  He  was  the 
eldest  son  of  Sir  Richard  Maitland  of  Lethington, 
and  was  about  five  years  older  than  Murray.  He 
had  been  educated  at  the  University  of  St.  Andrews, 
and  had  travelled  a  good  deal  on  the  Continent,  where 
he  studied  civil  law.  John  Knox,  in  his  History, 
claims  the  honour  of  having  converted  Maitland  to 
the  Reformed  opinions.  Whether  this  be  true  or  not, 
it  is  certain  that,  after  having  for  some  time  co-ope- 
rated with  Mary  of  Guise,  he  finally  deserted  her, 
and  continued  to  act  with  the  Reformers  as  secre- 
tary of  state,  an  office  to  which  he  had  been  ap- 
pointed for  life  in  1558.  It  has  been  already  seen, 
that  a  close  and  confidential  intercourse  subsisted 
between  him  and  Cecil ;  and  that  he  too  would  have 
been  glad  had  Mary's  return  to  Scotland  been  pre- 
vented. That  Maitland  possessed  an  acute  and  subtle 
genius  there  can  be  no  doubt ;  that  he  had  cultivated 
his  mind  to  good  purpose,  and  understood  the  art  of 
composition  as  well  as  any  man  of  the  age,  is  unde- 
niable. That  his  manners  were  more  polished  than 
those  of  most  of  the  Scottish  nobility  is  also  true ; 
but  that  his  talents  were  of  that  high  and  exquisite 
kind  which  Robertson  and  some  other  historians 
have  described  does  not  appear.  During  his  political 


116  LIFE    OF    MARY 

career  many  instances  occur  which  seem  to  imply  a 
vacillating  and  unsteady  temperament,  a  fault  which 
can  hardly  be  forgiven  in  a  statesman. 

James  Douglas,  Earl  of  Morton,  another  associate 
of  Murray,  was  one  of  the  most  powerful  and  least 
respectable  of  those  who  had  embraced  the  Reform- 
ation. Restless,  factious,  crafty,  avaricious,  and 
cruel,  nothing  could  have  saved  him  from  general 
odium  but  his  pretended  zeal  for  religion.  This  was 
a  cloak  for  many  sins.  By  flattering  the  vanity  of 
Knox  and  the  other  gospel  ministers,  he  contrived 
to  cover  the  hollowness  of  his  character,  and  to  patch 
up  a  reputation  for  sanctity.  In  consequence  of  the 
rebellion  of  the  Earl  of  Angus,  his  uncle,  during  the 
reign  of  James  V.,  Morton  had  been  obliged  to  spend 
several  years  in  England,  where  he  lived  in  great 
poverty.  But  the  only  effect  adversity  had  produced 
upon  him  was  a  determination  to  be  more  rapacious 
when  he  recovered  his  power.  His  ambition  was  of 
a  more  contracted  and  selfish  kind  than  Murray's, 
and  he  had  not  so  cool  a  head,  or  so  cautious  a  hand. 

The  Duke  of  Chatelherault,  Mary's  nearest  relation, 
being  advanced  in  years,  had  retired  from  public  life. 
The  Earl  of  Arran,  his  son,  who,  it  will  be  remem- 
bered, had  been  induced  to  propose  himself  as  a  hus- 
band for  Elizabeth,  was  of  a  weak  and  almost  crazed 
intellect.  Indeed,  it  was  not  long  before  the  in- 
creasing strength  of  the  malady  made  it  necessary 
to  confine  him.  He  came  to  court,  however,  upon 
Mary's  arrival,  and  having  been  unsuccessful  with 
Elizabeth,  chose  to  fall  desperately  in  love  with  his 
own  queen.  But  Mary  had  always  an  aversion  to 
him  originating  no  doubt  in  the  want  of  delicacy 
towards  her  which  had  characterized  his  negotiations 
with  Elizabeth,  and  confirmed  by  his  own  presuming 
and  disagreeable  manners.  His  father's  natural  bro- 
ther,  the  Archbishop  of  St.  Andrews,  is  the  only  othei 
member  of  the  family  worth  mentioning.  He  was 
still  stanch  to  the  Roman  Catholic  party ;  but  had 


QUEEN   OF    SCOTS.  117 

of  late  seen  the  wisdom  of  remaining  quiet,  and 
though  he  became  rather  a  favourite  with  Mary,  it 
does  not  appear  that  he  henceforth  took  a  very  active 
interest  in  public  affairs.* 

James  Hepburne,  Earl  of  Both  well,  though  some 
of  the  leading  features  of  his  character  had  hardly 
shown  themselves  at  the  period  of  which  we  speak, 
merits  nevertheless,  from  the  part  he  subsequently 
acted,  especial  notice  at  present.  He  had  succeeded 
his  father  in  his  titles  and  estates  in  the  year  1556, 
when  he  was  five  or  six-and-twenty  years  of  age. 
He  enjoyed  not  only  large  estates,  but  the  hereditary 
offices  ,?f  lord  high  admiral  of  Scotland,  sheriff  of 
Berwick,  Haddington,  and  Edinburgh,  and  baillie  of 
Lauderdale.  With  the  exception  of  the  Duke  of 
Chatelherault,  he  was  the  most  powerful  nobleman 
in  the  southern  districts  of  Scotland.  Soon  after 
coming  to  his  titles,  he  began  to  take  an  active  share 
in  public  business.  In  addition  to  his  other  offices, 
he  was  appointed  the  queen's  lieutenant  on  the  bor- 
ders, and  keeper  of  Hermitage  Castle,  by  the  queen- 
regent,  to  whom  he  always  remained  faithful,  in  op- 
position to  the  Lord  James  and  what  was  then  termed 
the  English  faction.  He  went  over  to  France  on  the 
death  of  Francis  II.  to  pay  his  duty  to  Mary,  and  on 
his  return  to  Scotland  was  by  her  intrusted  with  the 
discharge  of  an  important  commission  regarding  the 
government.  Though  all  former  differences  were 
now  supposed  to  have  been  forgotten,  there  was  not, 
nor  did  there  ever  exist,  a  very  cordial  agreement 
between  the  Earls  of  Murray  and  Bothwell.  They 
were  both  about  the  same  age,  but  their  dispositions 
were  very  different.  Murray  was  self-possessed,  full 
of  foresight,  prudent,  and  wary.  Bothwell  was  bold, 

*  Miss  Benger  (vol.  ii.  p.  132)  erroneously  supposes  that  the  Arch 
•ishop  of  St.  Andrews  bad  died  before  Mary's  return  to  Scotland.  She 
should  have  known  that  it  was  he  who  presided  at  the  baptism  of  Jame* 
VI.,  of  which  ceremony  she  gives  so  particular  an  account.  See  Keith, 
i).  360.  and  Chalmers,  vol.  i.  p.  196. 


118  LIFE    OF    MART 

reckless,  and  extravagant.  His  youth  had  been  de- 
roted  to  every  species  of  dissipation ;  and  even  in 
manhood  he  seemed  more  intent  on  pleasure  than 
on  business.  This  was  a  sort  of  life  which  Murray 
despised,  and  perhaps  he  calculated  that  BothweH 
would  never  aim  at  any  other.  But,  though  guided 
by  no  steady  principles,  and  devoted  to  licentious- 
ness, Bothwell  was  nevertheless  not  the  mere  man 
of  pleasure.  He  was  all  his  life  celebrated  for  daring 
and  lawless  exploits,  and  vanity  or  passion  were 
motives  whose  force  he  was  never  able  to  resist. 
Unlike  Murray,  who,  when  he  had  an  end  in  view, 
made  his  advances  towards  it  as  cautiously  as  an 
Indian  hunter,  Bothwell  dashed  right  through,  as 
careless  of  the  means  by  which  he  was  to  accomplish 
his  object  as  of  the  consequences  that  were  to  ensue. 
His  manner  was  of  that  frank,  open,  and  uncalcu- 
lating  kind,  which  frequently  catches  a  superficial 
observer.  They  who  did  not  study  him  more  closely 
were  apt  to  imagine  that  he  was  merely  a  blustering, 
good-natured,  violent,  headstrong  man,  whose  man- 
ners must  inevitably  have  degenerated  into  vulgarity 
had  he  not  been  nobly  born,  and  accustomed  to  the 
society  of  his  peers.  But  much  more  serious  con- 
clusions might  have  been  drawn  by  those  who  had 
penetration  enough  to  see  under  the  cloak  of  disso- 
luteness in  which  he  wrapped  himself  and  his  designs. 
With  regard  to  his  personal  appearance,  it  does  not 
seem  to  have  been  remarkably  prepossessing.  Bran- 
tome  says,  that  he  was  one  of  the  ugliest  men  he 
had  ever  seen,  and  that  his  manners  were  corres- 
pondently  outre.*  Buchanan,  who  must  have  known 
Bothwell  well,  and  who  draws  his  character  with 
more  accuracy  than  was  to  have  been  expected  from 
BO  partial  a  writer,  says,  in  his  "  Detection," — "  Was 
there  in  him  any  gift  of  eloquence,  or  grace  of  beauty, 
or  virtue  of  mind,  garnished  with  the  benefits  which 

*  Jebb,  rol.  ii.  p.  486 ;  Chalmers,  vol.  ii.  p.  209 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  119 

we  call  of  fortune  ?  As  for  his  eloquence  and  beauty 
we  need  not  make  long  tale  of  them,  since  both  they 
that  have  seen  him  can  well  remember  his  counte- 
nance,  his  gait,  and  the  whole  for^n  of  his  body,  how 
gay  it  was ;  they  that  have  heard  him  are  not  igno- 
rant of  his  rude  utterance  and  blockishness."  As  to 
BothwelPs  religious  opinions,  Buchanan  remarks, 
very  truly,  that  wavering  between  the  different  fac- 
tions, and  despising  either  side,  he  counterfeited  a 
love  of  both.*  Such  was  the  man  of  whom  we  shall 
have  occasion  to  say  so  much  in  the  course  of  these 
Memoirs. 

In  the  Lords  Ruthven  and  Lindsay  remained  un- 
altered all  the  characteristics  of  the  ruder  feudal 
chiefs,  rendered  still  more  repulsive  by  their  bigoted 
zeal  in  favour  of  the  Reformed  opinions.  They  were 
men  of  coarse  and  contracted  minds,  fit  instigators 
to  villany,  or  apt  tools  in  the  hands  of  those  who 
were  more  willing  to  plan  than  to  execute. 

Opposed  to  all  these  nobles  was  the  great  lay  head 
of  the  Catholic  party  in  Scotland,  John,  Earl  of 
Huntly.  His  jurisdiction  and  influence  extended 
over  nearly  the  whole  of  the  north  of  Scotland,  from 
Aberdeen  to  Inverness.  He  was  born  in  1510,  and 
had  been  a  personal  friend  and  favourite  of  James  V. 
He  ranked  in  parliament  as  the  premier  earl  of  Scot- 
land, and  in  1546  was  appointed  chancellor  of  the 
kingdom.  He  was  always  opposed  to  the  English 
party,  and  had  been  taken  prisoner  at  the  battle  of 
Pinkie,  fighting  against  the  claims  of  Edward  VI. 
upon  the  infant  Mary.  He  made  his  escape  in  1548, 
and  as  a  reward  for  his  services  and  sufferings  ob- 
tained, in  the  following  year,  a  grant  of  the  earldom 
of  Murray,  which,  however,  he  again  resigned  in 
1554.  He  continued  faithful  to  the  queen-regent  till 
her  death.  Upon  that  occasion,  we  have  seen  that 
he  and  other  nobles  sent  Lesly,  with  certain  pro- 

*  Buchanan's  Detection,  in  Anderson's  Collections,  vol.  ii.  p.  32  and  50 


120  LIFE    OF    MARY 

posals,  t  j  Mary.  He  was  an  honourable  man  and 
a  good  subject,  though  the  termination  of  his  career 
was  a  most  unfortunate  one.  The  respect  which 
his  memory  merits  is  founded  on  the  conviction,  that 
he  had  too  great  a  love  for  his  country  and  sovereign 
ever  to  have  consented  to  have  made  the  one  little 
better  than  tributary  to  England,  or  to  have  betrayed 
he  other  into  the  hands  of  her  deadliest  enemy. 

Such  were  the  men  who  were  now  to  become 
Mary's  associates  and  counsellors.  The  names  of 
most  of  them  occur  as  members  of  the  privy  council 
which  she  constituted  shortly  after  her  return.  It 
consisted  of  the  Duke  of  Chatelherault,  the  Earl  of 
Huntly,  the  Earl  of  Argyle,  the  Earl  of  Bothwell,  the 
Earl  of  Enrol,  Earl  Marschall,  the  Earl  of  Athol,  the 
Earl  of  Morton,  the  Earl  of  Montrose,  the  Earl  of 
Glencahn,  the  Lord  Erskine,  and  the  Lord  Jamea 
Stuart.  In  this  council,  the  influence  of  the  Lord 
James,  backed  as  it  was  by  a  great  majority  of  Prot- 
estant nobles,  carried  every  thing  before  it. 

Elizabeth,  finding  that  Mary  had  arrived  safely  in 
her  own  country,  and  had  been  well  received  there, 
lost  no  time  in  changing  her  tone  towards  the  Scot- 
tish queen.  Her  English  resident  in  Scotland  wa» 
the  celebrated  Randolph,  whom  she  kept  as  a  sort 
of  accredited  spy  at  Mary's  court.  He  has  rendered 
himself  notorious  by  the  many  letters  he  wrote  to 
England  upon  Scottish  affairs.  He  had  an  acute, 
inquisitive,  and  gossiping  turn  of  mind.  His  style 
is  lively  and  amusing ;  and  though  the  office  he  had 
to  perform  is  not  to  be  envied,  he  seems  to  have  en- 
tered on  it  con  amore,  and  with  little  remorse  of  con- 
science. His  epistles  are  mostly  preserved,  and  are 
valuable  from  containing  pictures  of  the  state  of 
manners  in  Scotland  at  the  time,  not  to  be  found  any 
where  else,  though  not  always  to  be  depended  on  as 
accurate  chronicles  of  fact.  To  Randolph  the  Queen 
of  England  now  wrote,  desiring  him  to  offer  her  best 
congratulations  to  Mary  upon  her  safe  arrival.  She 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  121 

sent  him  also  a  letter,  which  he  was  to  deliver  to 
Mary,  in  which  she  disclaimed  ever  having  had  the 
most  distant  intention  of  intercepting  her  on  her 
voyage.  Mary  answered  Elizabeth's  letter  with  he- 
coining  cordiality.  She  likewise  sent  Secretary 
Maitland  into  England,  to  remain  for  some  time  as 
her  resident  at  Elizabeth's  court.  She  was  well 
aware  for  what  purposes  Randolph  was  ordered  to 
continue  in  Edinburgh ;  and  said,  that  as  it  seemed 
to  be  Elizabeth's  wish  that  he  should  remain,  she 
was  content,  but  that  she  would  have  another  in 
England  as  crafty  as  he.  Maitland  was  certainly  as 
crafty,  but  his  craftiness  was  unfortunately  too  fire 
^uently  directed  igainst  Mary  herself. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

John  Knox,  the  Reformers,  and  the  turbulent  NMes. 

MARY  had  been  only  a  few  days  in  Scotland  when 
she  was  painfully  reminded  of  the  excited  and  dan- 
gerous state  of  feeling  which  then  prevailed  on  the 
important  subject  of  religion.  Her  great  and  leading 
desire  was  to  conciliate  all  parties,  and  to  preserve 
unbroken  the  public  peace.  With  this  view  she  had 
issued  proclamations,  charging  her  subjects  to  con- 
duct themselves  quietly ;  and  announcing  her  intention 
to  make  no  alteration  in  the  form  of  religion  as  exist- 
ing in  the  country  at  her  arrival.  Notwithstanding 
.hese  precautions,  the  first  breach  of  civil  order  took 
place  at  the  very  palace  of  Holyrood  House.  Mary 
had  intimated  her  intention  to  attend  the  celebration 
of  a  solemn  mass  in  her  chapel  on  Sunday,  the  24th 
of  August,  1561,  the  first  Sunday  she  spent  in  Scot- 
land.  The  Reformers,  as  soon  as  they  got  the  upper 


122  LIFE    OF    MARY 

hand,  had  prohibited  this  service  under  severe  penal- 
ties, and  these  principles  of  intolerance  they  were 
determined  to  maintain.  Mary  had  not  interfered 
with  their  mode  of  worship ;  but  this  was  not  enough; 
—they  considered  themselves  called  upon  to  inter- 
fere with  hers.  In  anticipation  of  the  mass  for  which 
she  had  given  orders,  the  godly,  Knox  tells  us,  met 
together  and  said, — "  Shall  that  idol  be  suffered  again 
to  take  place  within  this  realm  ?  It  shall  not." 
They  even  repented  that  they  had  not  pulled  down  the 
chapel  itself  at  the  time  they  had  demolished  most 
of  the  other  religious  houses ;  for  the  sparing  of  any 
place  where  idols  were  worshipped  was,  in  their 
opinion,  "  the  preserving  the  accursed  thing."  When 
Sunday  arrived,  a  crowd  collected  on  the  outside  of 
the  chapel;  and  Lord  Lindsay,  whose  bigotry  ha? 
been  already  mentioned,  called  out  with  fiery  zeal— 
"  The  idolatrous  priests  shall  die  the  death  according 
to  God's  law."  The  Catholics  were  insulted  as  they 
entered  the  chapel,  and  the  tumult  increased  so  much 
that  they  feared  to  commence  the  service.  At  length 
the  Lord  James,  whose  superior  discrimination  taught 
him  that  his  party,  by  pushing  things  to  this  ex- 
tremity, were  doing  their  cause  more  harm  than 
good,  stationed  himself  at  the  door  and  declared  he 
would  allow  no  evil-disposed  person  to  enter.  His 
influence  with  the  godly  was  such  that  they  ventured 
not  to  proceed  to  violence  against  his  will.  He  was 
a  good  deal  blamed,  however,  by  Knox  for  his  con- 
duct. When  the  service  was  concluded,  Lord  James's 
two  brothers  were  obliged  to  conduct  the  priests 
home,  as  a  protection  to  them  from  the  insults  of  the 
people ;  and  in  the  afternoon  crowds  collected  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  palace,  who,  by  their  disloyal 
language  and  turbulent  proceedings,  signified  to 
the  queen  their  disapprobation  that  she  had  dared 
to  worship  her  God  in  the  manner  which  seemed 
to  herself  most  consistent,  both  with  the  revealed 
and  natural  law.  Many  of  Mary's  friends  who 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  123 

had  accompanied  her  from  France  were  so  disgusted 
with  the  whole  of  this  scene,  that  they  announced 
their  intention  of  returning  sooner  than  they  might 
otherwise  have  done.  "  Would  to  God,"  exclaims 
Knox,  "that  altogether  with  the  mass,  they  had 
taken  good-night  of  the  realm  for  ever !" 

On  the  following  Sunday,  Knox  look  the  opportu- 
nity of  preaching,  what  Keith  might  have  termed, 
another  "  thundering  sermon"  against  idolatry.  In 
this  discourse  he  declared,  that  one  mass  was  more 
fearful  to  him  than  ten  thousand  armed  enemies 
would  be,  landed  in  any  part  of  the  realm  on  pur- 
pose to  suppress  the  whole  religion.  No  one  will 
deny,  that  the  earlier  Reformers  of  this  and  all  other 
countries  would,  naturally  and  properly,  look  upon 
Popish  rites  with  far  greater  abhorrence  than  is  done 
by  the  strictest  Protestants  of  more  modern  times. 
Nor  is  it  wonderful  that  the  ablest  men  among  them 
(and  John  Knox  was  one  of  those)  should  have  given 
way  so  far  to  the  feelings  of  the  age,  as  to  be  unable 
to  draw  the  exact  line  of  distinction  between  the 
improvements  of  the  new  gospel  and  the  imperfec- 
tions of  the  old.  The  faith  which  they  established 
was  of  a  purer,  simpler,  and  better  kind  than  that 
from  which  they  were  converted.  Yet,  making  all 
these  allowances,  there  does  seem  to  have  been  some- 
thing unnecessarily  overbearing  and  illiberal  in  the 
spirit  which  animated  Knox  and  some  of  his  follow- 
ers. When  contrasted  with  the  mildness  of  Mary 
at  least,  and  even  with  the  greater  moderation  ob- 
served in  some  of  the  other  countries  of  Europe, 
where  the  Reformation  was  making  no  less  rapid 
progress,  the  anti-catholic  ardour  of  the  good  people 
of  Scotland  must  be  allowed  to  have  overstepped 
considerably  the  just  limits  of  Christian  forbearance. 
It  is  useful  also  to  observe  the  inconsistencies  which 
still  existed  in  the  Reformed  faith.  While  the 
Catholic  religion  was  reprobated,  Catholic  customs 
springing  out  of  that  religion  do  not  seem  to  have 

I.— K 


124  LIFE    OF    MARY 

called  forth  any  censure.  On  the  very  day  on  which 
Knox  preached  the  sermon  already  mentioned,  a 
great  civic  banquet  was  given  by  the  city  of  Edin- 
burgh to  Mary's  uncles,  the  Duke  Danville,  and  other 
of  her  French  friends  ;  and,  generally  speaking,  Sun- 
day was,  throughout  the  country,  the  favourite  day 
for  festivities  of  all  kinds. 

The  mark  of  attention  paid  to  her  relations  pleased 
Mary,  but  her  pleasure  was  rendered  imperfect,  by 
perceiving  how  powerful  and  unlooked-for  an  enemy 
both  she  and  they  had  in  John  Knox.  Aware  of  the 
liberal  manner  in  which  she  had  treated  him  and  his 
party,  she  thought  it  hard  that  he  should  so  unremit- 
tingly exert  his  influence  to  stir  up  men's  minds 
against  her.  That  this  influence  was  of  no  insignifi- 
cant kind  is  attested  by  very  sufficient  evidence. 
Knox  was  not  a  mere  polemical  churchman.  His 
friends  and  admirers  intrusted  to  him  their  temporal 
as  well  as  spiritual  interests.  He  was  often  selected 
as  an  umpire  in  civil  disputes  of  importance ;  and 
persons  whom  the  town-council  had  determined  to 
punish  for  disorderly  conduct,  were  continually  re- 
questing his  intercession  in  their  behalf.  When  dif- 
ferences fell  out  even  among  the  nobility,  he  was  not 
uncommonly  employed  to  adjust  them.  He  was  be- 
sides, at  that  time,  the  only  established  clergyman 
in  Edinburgh  who  taught  the  Reformed  doctrines. 
There  was  a  minister  in  the  Canongate,  and  anothei 
in  the  neighbouring  parish  of  St.  Cuthberts,  but  Knox 
was  the  minister  of  Edinburgh.  He  preached  in  the 
church  of  St.  Giles,  which  was  capable  of  holdrug 
three  thousand  persons.  To  this  numerous  audience 
he  held  forth  twice  every  Sunday,  and  thrice  on  other 
days  during  the  week.  He  was  regular  too  in  his 
attendance  at  the  meetings  of  the  synod  and  the 
general  assembly,  and  was  frequently  commissioned 
to  travel  through  the  country  to  disseminate  gospel 
truth.  In  1563,  but  not  till  then,  a  colleague  was 
appointed  to  him. 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  125 

Animated  by  a  sincere  desire  to  softer,  if  possible 
our  Reformer's  austere  temper,  Mary  requested  that 
he  might  be  brought  into  her  presence  two  days  aftei 
he  had  delivered  his  sermon  against  idolatry.  Knox 
had  no  objection  whatever  to  this  interview.  To 
have  it  granted  him  at  all  would  show  his  friends  the 
importance  attached  to  his  character  and  office ;  and 
from  the  manner  in  which  he  determined  to  carry 
himself  through  it,  he  hoped  to  strengthen  his  repu- 
tation for  bold  independence  of  sentiment  and  unde- 
viating  adherence  to  his  principles.  This  was  so  far 
well;  but  Knox  unfortunately  mingled  rudeness 
with  his  courage,  and  stubbornness  with  his  consis- 
tency. 

Mary  opened  the  conversation  by  expressing  her 
surprise  that  he  should  have  formed  so  very  unfa- 
vourable an  opinion  of  herself;  and  requested  to 
know  what  could  have  induced  him  to  commence  his 
calumnies  against  her  so  far  back  as  1559,  when  he 
published  his  book  upon  the  "  monstrous  government 
of  women."*  Knox  answered  that  learned  men  in 
all  ages  considered  their  judgments  free,  and  that  if 
these  judgments  sometimes  differed  from  the  com- 
mon judgment  of  mankind,  they  were  not  to  blame. 
He  then  ventured  to  compare  his  "  First  Blast  of  the 
Trumpet"  to  Plato's  work  "  On  the  Commonwealth," 
observing,  with  much  self-complacency,  that  both 
these  books  contained  many  new  sentiments.  He 
added,  that  what  he  had  written  was  directed  most 

*  This  is  apparently  the  first  time  Mary  had  ever  expressed  to  Knox 
her  sentiments  regarding  this  pamphlet.  He  had  been  treated  less  cere- 
moniously by  Elizabeth.  But  knowing  the  respect  in  which  she  was 
held  by  the  Protestants,  he  saw  it  for  his  interest  to  attempt  to  pacify 
her,  and  wrote  to  her  several  conciliatory  letters.  Elizabeth  put  a  stop 
to  them,  by  desiring  Cecil  to  forward  to  Knox  the  following  laconic 
epistle,  which  merits  preservation  as  a  literary  curiosity :— "  Mr.  Knox ! 
Mr.  Knox  !  Mr.  Knox !  there  is  neither  male  nor  female :  all  are  one  in 
Cbrist,  saith  Paul.  Blessed  is  the  man  who  confides  in  the  Lord !  1 
need  to  wish  you  no  more  prudence  than  God's  grace ;  whereof  God 
•end  you  plenty.  W.  CECIL."  Chalmers,  vol.  ii.  p.  494.  Knox  himseU' 
pves  a  somewhat  different  edition  of  this  letter  (Hist,  of  the  Reforms* 
lion,  p.  212).  Where  Chalmers  found  the  above  he  does  not  mention 


126  LIFE    OF    MARV 

especially  against  Mary,  "that  wicked  Jezebel  of 
England."  The  queen,  perceiving  that  this  was  a 
mere  subterfuge,  said,  "  Ye  speak  of  women  in  gene« 
ral."  Knox  confessed  that  he  did  so,  but  again 
went  the  length  of  assuring  her,  though  the  assur 
ance  seems  to  involve  a  contradiction,  that  he  had 
said  nothing  "  intended  to  trouble  her  estate." 

Satisfied  with  this  concession,  Mary  proceeded  to 
ask  why  he  could  not  teach  the  people  a  new  religion 
without  exciting  them  to  hold  in  contempt  the  au- 
thority of  their  sovereign  ?  Knox  found  it  necessary 
to  answer  this  question  in  a  somewhat  round-about 
manner.  "  If  all  the  seed  of  Abraham,"  said  he, 
"  should  have  been  of  the  religion  of  Pharaoh,  what 
religion  should  there  have  been  in  the  world  1  Or 
if  all  men  in  the  days  of  the  Roman  emperors  should 
have  been  of  the  religion  of  the  Roman  emperors, 
what  religion  should  have  been  on  the  face  of  the 
earth  1  Daniel  and  his  fellows  were  subject  to  Nebu- 
chadnezzar and  unto  Darius,  and  yet  they  would  not 
be  of  their  religion."  "  Yea,"  replied  Mary,  promptly, 
"  but  none  of  these  men  raised  the  sword  against 
their  princes."  "  Yet  you  cannot  deny  that  they  re- 
sisted," said  Knox,  refining  a  little  too  much  ;  "  for 
those  who  obey  not  the  commandment  given  them 
do  in  some  sort  resist."  "  But  yet,"  said  the  queen, 
perceiving  the  quibble,  "  they  resisted  not  with  the 
sword."  The  Reformer  felt  that  he  had  been  driven 
into  a  corner,  and  determined  to  get  out  of  it  at  what- 
ever cost.  "  God,  madam,"  said  he,  "  had  not  given 
unto  them  the  power  and  the  means."  "  Think  ye," 
asked  Mary, "  that  subjects  having  the  power  may 
resist  their  princes?"  "If  princes  exceed  their 
bounds,  madam,"  said  Knox,  evidently  departing  from 
the  point,  "  no  doubt  they  may  be  resisted  even  by 
power."  He  proceeded  to  fortify  this  opinion  with 
arguments  of  no  very  loyal  kind ;  and  Mary,  over- 
come by  a  rudeness  and  presumption  she  had  been 
little  accustomed  to,  was  for  some  time  silent.  Nay, 


VtUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  127 

Randolph,  in  one  of  his  letters,  affirms  that  he 
"  knocked  so  hastily  upon  her  heart  that  he  made  her 
weep."  At  length  she  said,  "  I  perceive  then  that 
my  subjects  shall  obey  you  and  not  me,  and  will  do 
what  they  please,  and  not  what  I  command ;  and  so 
must  I  be  subject  to  them  and  not  they  to  me."  Knox 
answered  that  a  subjection  unto  God  and  his  Church 
was  the  greatest  dignity  that  flesh  could  enjoy  upon 
the  face  of  the  earth,  for  it  would  raise  it  to  everlast- 
ing glory.  "  But  you  are  not  the  Church  that  I  will 
nourish,"  said  Mary ;  "  I  will  defend  the  Church  of 
Rome ;  for  it  is,  I  think,  the  true  Church  of  God." 
Knox's  coarse  and  discourteous  answer  shows  that 
he  was  alike  ignorant  of  the  delicacy  with  which,  in 
this  argument,  he  should  have  treated  a  lady,  and  of 
the  respect  a  queen  was  entitled  to  demand.  "  Your 
will,  madam,"  said  he,  "  is  no  reason ;  neither  doth 
your  thought  make  the  Roman  harlot  to  be  the  true 
and  immaculate  spouse  of  Jesus  Christ.  Wondet 
not,  madam,  that  I  call  Rome  a  harlot,  for  that  Church 
is  altogether  polluted  with  all  kinds  of  spiritual  for- 
nication, both  in  doctrine  and  manners."  While  this 
speech  must  have  deeply  wounded  the  feelings  of 
Mary,  a  sincere  Catholic  as  she  was,  it  cannot  entitle 
the  Reformer  to  any  praise  on  the  score  of  its  bravery 
and  independence.  Knox  knew  that  the  whole  coun- 
try would  in  a  few  days  be  full  of  his  conference 
"viih  the  queen.  By  yielding  to  her  he  had  nothing 
-o  gain ;  and  as  his  reputation  was  his  dearest  pos- 
session, he  hoped  to  increase  it  by  an  unmanly  dis- 
play of  his  determined  zeal.  Mary,  perceiving  what 
sort  of  a  man  she  had  to  deal  with,  soon  afterward 
broke  off  the  conversation.* 

*  Knox's  History  of  the  Reformation,  p.  287,  et  seq. ;  Keith,  p.  188. 
It  is  worth  observing  that  Knox  is  the  only  person  who  gives  us  any  de- 
tailed account  of  these  interviews,  and  he  of  course  represents  them  in 
as  favourable  a  light  for  himself  as  possible.  "The  report,"  says  Ran- 
dolph, "  that  Knox  hath  talked  with  the  queen,  maketh  the  Papists  doubt 
what  will  become  of  the  world."—"  1  have  been  the  more  minute  in  the 
narrative  of  this  curious  conference,"  says  M'Crie,  "  because  it  affords 


128  LIFE    OF    MARY 

On  the  same  day  that  the  queen  gave  Knox  this 
audience,  she  made  her  first  public  entry  into  Edin- 
burgh. She  rode  up  the  Canongate  and  High-street 
to  the  castle,  where  a  banquet  had  been  prepared  for 
her.  She  was  greeted  as  she  passed  along  with 
every  mark  of  respect  and  loyalty ;  and  pains  had 
been  taken  to  give  to  the  whole  procession  as  striking 
and  splendid  an  air  as  possible.  The  town  had 
issued  proclamations,  requiring  the  citizens  to  appear 
in  their  best  attire,  and  advising  the  young  men  to 
assume  a  uniform,  that  they  might  make  "  the  convoy 
before  the  court  more  triumphant."  When  Mary  left 
the  castle  after  dinner  on  her  way  back,  a  pageant 
which  had  been  prepared  was  exhibited  on  the  Castle 
Hill.  The  Reformers  could  not  allow  this  opportu- 
nity to  pass  without  reminding  her  that  she  was  now 
in  a  country  where  their  authority  was  paramount. 
The  greater  part  of  this  pageant  represented  the  ter- 
rible vengeance  of  God  upon  idolaters.  It  was  even 
at  one  time  intended  to  have  had  a  priest  burned 
in  effigy ;  but  the  Earl  of  Huntly  declared  he  would 
not  allow  so  gross  an  insult  to  be  offered  to  his  sove- 
reign. 

Soon  after  paying  this  compliment  to  the  city  of 
Edinburgh,  Mary  determined  upon  making  a  progress 
through  the  country,  that  she  and  her  subjects  might 
become  better  acquainted  with  each  other.  She  made 
this  progress  upon  horseback,  accompanied  by  a  pretty 
numerous  train.  There  appears  at  the  time  to  have 
been  only  one  wheeled  carriage  in  Scotland.  It  was 
a  chariot  (as  it  is  called  in  the  treasurer's  books), 
probably  of  a  rude  enough  construction,  which  Mar- 
garet of  England  brought  with  her  when  she  married 
James  IV.  Mary  no  doubt  knew  that  it  would  have 
been  rather  adventurous  to  have  attempted  travelling 
on  the  Scotch  roads  of  that  day  in  so  frail  and  un- 

the  most  satisfactory  refutation  of  the  Charge  that  Knox  in  ated  Mary  with 
rudeness  and  disrespect."  Different  people  have  surely  different  mode* 
of  defining  rudeness  and  respect. 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  129 

certain  a  vehicle.  It  is  not,  however,  to  be  supposed 
that  a  queen  such  as  Mary,  with  her  lords  and  ladies 
well-mounted  around  her,  could  pass  through  her 
native  country  without  being  the  object  of  universal 
admiration,  even  without  the  aid  of  so  wonderful  a 
piece  of  mechanism  as  a  coach  or  a  chariot.  Her  first 
stage  was  to  the  palace  at  Linlithgow.  Here  she 
remained  a  day  or  two,  and  then  proceeded  to  Stir- 
ling. On  the  night  of  her  arrival  there,  she  made  a 
very  narrow  escape.  As  she  lay  in  bed  asleep,  a 
candle  that  was  burning  beside  her  set  fire  to  the 
curtains;  and  had  the  light  and  heat  not  speedily 
awakened  her,  when  she  immediately  exerted  her 
usual  presence  of  mind,  she  might  have  been  burned 
to  death.  The  populace  said  at  the  time  that  this 
was  the  fulfilment  of  a  very  old  prophecy,  that  a 
queen  should  be  burned  at  Stirling.  It  was  only  the 
bed,  however,  not  the  queen,  that  was  burned,  so  that 
the  prophet  must  have  made  a  slight  mistake.  On 
the  Sunday  she  spent  at  Stirling  the  Lord  James, 
finding  perhaps  that  his  former  apparent  defence  of 
the  mass  had  hurt  his  reputation  among  the  Re- 
formers, corrected  the  error  by  behaving  with  singu- 
lar impropriety  in  the  royal  chapel.  He  was  assisted 
by  the  lord  justice  general,  the  Earl  of  Argyle,  in 
conjunction  with  whom  he  seems  to  have  come  to 
Hctual  blows  with  the  priests.  This  affair  was  con- 
sidered good  sport  by  many.  "  But  there  were  others," 
says  Randolph,  alluding  probably  to  Mary,  "that 
shed  a  tear  or  two."  "  It  was  reserved,"  Chalmers 
remarks,  "  for  the  prime  minister  and  the  justice  gene- 
ral to  make  a  riot  in  the  house  which  had  been  dedi- 
cated to  the  service  of  God,  and  to  obstruct  the  ser- 
vice in  the  queen's  presence."* 
Leaving  Stirling,  Mary  spent  a  night  at  Lesly  Castle, 

*  Keith  supposes  erroneously  that  this  disturbance  took  place  in  tha 
rhapcl  ut  Ilolyrood.  Randolph,  his  authority,  though  his  expressions 
«re  ONiuirocal.  undoubtedly  alludes  to  the  royal  chapel  st  Stirling.— 
Keith,  p.  Its'j  and  190. 

31—9 


130  «.JFK    OF    MARV 

the  seat  of  the  Earl  of  Rothes,  a  Catholic  nobleman. 
On  the  16th  of  September  she  entered  Perth.  She 
was  everywhere  welcomed  with  much  apparent  satis- 
faction ;  but  in  the  midst  of  their  demonstrations  of 
affection,  her  subjects  always  took  care  to  remind 
her  that  they  were  Presbyterians,  and  that  she  was  a 
Papist.  In  the  very  pious  town  of  Perth,  pageants 
greeted  her  arrival  somewhat  similar  to  those  which 
had  bi  en  exhibited  to  her  on  the  Castle  Hill  at  Edin- 
burgh. Mary  was  not  a  little  affected  by  observing 
this  constant  determination  to  wound  her  feelings. 
In  riding  through  the  streets  of  Perth  she  became 
suddenly  faint,  and  was  carried  from  her  horse  to  hei 
lodging.  Her  acute  sensibility  often  produced  simi- 
lar effects  upon  her  health,  although  the  cause  wa§ 
not  understood  by  the  unrefined  multitude.  With  St. 
Andrews,  the  seat  of  the  commendatorship  of  the 
Lord  James,  she  seems  to  have  been  most  pleased, 
and  remained  there  several  days.  She  returned  to 
Edinburgh  by  the  end  of  September,  passing  on  the 
way  through  Falkland,  where  her  father  had  died. 
Knox  was  much  distressed  at  the  manifestation  of 
the  popular  feeling  in  favour  of  Mary  during  this 
journey.  He  consoles  himself  by  saying  that  she 
polluted  the  towns  through  which  she  passed  with 
her  idolatry ;  and  in  allusion  to  the  accident  at  Stir- 
ling, remarks,  "  Fire  followed  her  very  commonly  on 
that  journey."* 

It  was,  perhaps,  to  counteract  in  some  degree 
the  impression  which  Mary's  affability  and  beauty 
had  made  upon  her  subjects,  that  soon  after  her  re- 
turn to  Edinburgh  a  very  singular  proclamation  was 
issued  by  the  civil  authorities  of  that  town.  It  was 
couched  in  the  following  terms: — "  Octobers,  1561. 
On  which  day  the  provost,  baillies,  council,  and  all 
the  deacons,  perceiving  the  priests,  monks,  friars, 
and  others  of  the  wicked  rabble  of  the  ant  christ, 

*  Knox.  p.  292. 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  131 

the  pope,  to  resort  to  this  town,  contrary  to  the 
tenor  of  a  previous  proclamation,  therefore  ordain 
the  said  proclamation,  charging  all  monks,  friars, 
priests,  nuns,  adulterers,  fornicators,  and  all  such 
filthy  persons,  to  remove  themselves  out  of  this 
town  and  bounds  thereof,  within  twenty-four  hours, 
under  the  pain  of  carting  through  the  town,  burn- 
ing on  the  cheek,  and  perpetual  banishment."* 
The  insult  offered  to  the  sovereign  of  the  realm, 
by  thus  attempting  to  confound  the  professors  of 
the  old  religion  with  the  most  depraved  charac- 
ters in  the  country,  was  too  gross  to  be  allowed  to 
pass  unnoticed.  Mary  did  not  bring  these  bigoted 
magistrates  to  trial, — she  did  not  even  imprison 
them;  but  with  much  mildness,  though  with  no  less 
firmness,  she  ordered  the  town-council  instantly  to 
deprive  the  provost  and  baillies  of  the  offices  they 
held,  and  to  elect  other  better  qualified  persons  in 
their  stead,  f 

During  the  remainder  of  the  year  1561,  the  only 
public  affairs  of  consequence  were,  the  appointment 
of  the  Lord  James  as  the  queen's  lieutenant  on  the 
borders,  where  he  proceeded  to  hold  courts,  and 
endeavoured,  by  great  severity  and  many  capital 
punishments,  to  reduce  the  turbulent  districts  to 
something  like  order ;  and  the  renewal  on  the  part 
of  Queen  Elizabeth  of  the  old  dispute  concerning 
the  treaty  of  Edinburgh.  Mary,  having  now  had 

*  Keith,  p.  192. 

+  It  is  worth  while  attending  to  the  very  partial  and  grossly  perverted 
account  which  Knox  gives  of  this  proclamation,  actually  introducing 
into  his  History  an  edition  of  it,  fabricated  by  himself.  He  then  pro- 
reeds  to  find  fault  with  the  magistrates  for  yielding  to  "  Jezebel's" 
commands,  and  remarks,  in  allusion  to  a  counter-proclamation  which 
the  queen  issued,  that  the  town  should  be  patent  to  all  her  lieges  until 
they  were  found  guilty  of  some  offence.  "  The  queen  took  upon  her 
greater  boldness  than  she  and  Balaam's  bleating  priests  durst  have  at- 
tempted before.  And  so  murderers,  adulterers,  thieves,  whores,  drunk- 
ards, idolaters,  and  all  malefactors  got  protection  under  the  queen's 
wings,  under  colour  that  they  were  of  her  religion.  And  so  got  the 
Devil  freedom  again,  whereas  before  he  durst  not  have  been  seen  by 
daylight  upon  the  common  streets.  Lord  deliver  us  from  that  bondage  * 
—Knox,  p.  292-3. 

r.— L 


132  LIFE    OF    MARY 

the  benefit  of  advice  from  her  council,  without 
directly  refusing  what  Elizabeth  asked,  gave  her,  in 
pretty  plain  terms,  to  understand,  that  she  could 
never  think  of  signing  away  her  hereditary  title  and 
interest  to  the  crown  of  England.  "  We  know," 
she  says,  in  a  letter  she  wrote  to  Elizabeth  on  the 
subject,  "  how  near  we  are  descended  of  the  blood 
of  England,  and  what  devices  have  been  attempted 
to  make  us,  as  it  were,  a  stranger  from  it.  We 
trust,  being  so  nearly  your  cousin,  you  would  be  loath 
we  should  receive  so  manifest  an  injury,  as  entirely 
to  be  debarred  from  that  title,  which,  in  possibility, 
may  fall  to  us." 

Most  of  Mary's  French  friends  had  by  this  time 
returned  home.  Her  uncle,  the  Marquis  D'Elbeuf, 
however,  remained  all  winter  with  her.  In  losing 
the  Duke  of  Danville,  Mary  lost  one  of  her  warmest 
admirers ;  but  it  appears,  that  from  his  being  already 
married  (though  he  could  have  obtained  a  divorce), 
and  from  other  considerations,  Mary  rejected  his 
addresses.  Many  foreign  princes  were  suing  for  the 
honour  of  her  alliance,  among  whom  were  Don 
Carlos  of  Spain,  the  Archduke  Charles  of  Austria, 
the  King  of  Sweden,  the  Duke  of  Ferrara,  and  the 
Prince  of  Conde ;  but  Mary  did  not  yet  see  the  ne- 
cessity of  an  immediate  marriage.  Among  her  own 
subjects,  there  were  two  who  ventured  upon  con- 
fessing their  attachment,  and  nourishing  some  hopes 
that  she  might  be  brought  to  view  it  propitiously. 
These  were  the  Earl  of  Arran,  already  mentioned, 
and  Sir  John  Gordon,  second  son  of  the  Earl  of 
Huntly.  The  former  of  these  Mary  never  liked; 
and  though  the  latter  far  excelled  him  in  accomplish- 
ments, both  of  body  and  mind,  she  does  not  seem  to 
have  given  him  encouragement  either.  Inspired  by 
mutual  jealousy,  these  noblemen  of  course  detested 
each  other ;  but  Arran  was  the  more  factious  and 
absurd.  Having  taken  offence  at  some  slights  which 
he  supposed  had  been  offered  him,  he  had  retired  tc 


QUEEN    OF     SCOTS.  13S 

St.  Andrews,  where  he  was  believed,  by  those  who- 
know  his  restless  temperament,  to  be  hatching  sedi- 
tion Upon  one  occasion — a  Sunday  night  in 
Novembeh — just  before  the  queen  had  retired  to  bed, 
a  report  was  suddenly  spread  through  the  palace, 
that  Arran  had  crossed  the  water  at  the  head  of  a 
stnmg  body  of  retainers,  and  was  marching  direct 
for  Holyrood  House,  with  the  intention  of  carrying 
off  the  queen  to  Dumbarton  castle,  which  was  in 
the  jossession  of  his  father,  or  to  some  other  place 
of  strength.  This  report,  which  gained  credit  it 
was  scarcely  known  how,  excited  the  greatest  alarm. 
Mar}  's  friends  collected  round  her  with  as  much  speed 
as  possible ;  the  gates  were  closed,  and  the  lords  re- 
mained in  arms  within  the  court  all  night.  Arran 
did  not  make  his  appearance,  and  the  panic  grad- 
ually subsided, — though  the  nobles  determined  to 
keep  guard  every  night  for  some  time.  This  is  the 
foundation  of  the  assertion  made  by  some  writers, 
that  Mary  kept  a  perpetual  body-guard,  which,  un- 
fortunately, she  never  did  during  the  whole  of  her 
reign.  The  Duke  of  Chatelherault,  who  came  to 
court  soon  after,  alleged,  that  the  rumour  which  had 
gained  credence  against  his  son  was  only  a  man- 
oeuvre of  his  enemies ;  and  though  his  son's  con- 
duct was,  on  all  occasions,  sufficiently  outre",  it  is 
not  unlikely  that  this  allegation  was  true. 

Another  tumult,  which  soon  afterward  occurred, 
shows  how  difficult  it  was  at  this  time  to  preserve 
quietnrss  and  good  order.  It  had  been  reported 
among  the  more  dissolute  nobles,  that  the  daughter 
of  a  respectable  merchant  in  Edinburgh  was  the 
chere  a  me  of  the  Earl  of  Arran.  Bothwell,  always 
at  horn  *.  in  any  affair  of  this  kind,  undertook  to  in- 
troduce the  Marquis  D'Elbeuf  to  the  lady;  Lord 
John,  brother  of  the  Commendator  of  St.  Andrews, 
was  aldo  of  the  party.  They  went  to  her  house  the 
first  night  in  masks,  and  were  admitted,  and  cour- 
teously entertained.  Returning  next  evening,  they 


134  LIFE     OF    MARY 

were  disappointed  to  find  that  the  object  of  then 
admiration  refused  to  receive  their  visits  any  longer 
They  proceeded,  therefore,  to  break  open  the  doors, 
and  to  create  much  disturbance  in  the  house  and 
neighbourhood.  Next  day  the  queen  was  informed 
of  their  disorderly  conduct,  and  she  rebuked  them 
sharply.  But  Bothwell  and  the  Lord  John,  animated 
partly  by  their  dislike  to  the  house  of  Hamilton,  and 
partly  by  a  turbulent  spirit  of  contradiction,  declared 
they  would  repeat  their  visit  the  very  next  night  in 
despite  of  either  friend  or  foe.  Their  intentions 
being  understood,  the  servants  of  the  Duke  of  Cha- 
telherault  and  Arran  thought  themselves  called  upon 
to  defend  a  lady  whom  their  masters  patronised. 
They  assembled  accordingly  with  jack  and  spear  in 
the  streets,  determined  to  oppose  force  to  force. 
Bothwell  wished  for  nothing  else,  and  collected  his 
friends  about  him  in  his  own  lodgings.  The  oppo- 
site party,  however,  increased  much  more  rapidly 
than  his,  and  began  to  collect  in  a  threatening  man- 
ner before  his  house.  The  magistrates  saw  the 
necessity  of  interfering;  the  alarm-bell  was  rung, 
and  despatches  were  sent  off  to  Holyrood,  to  know 
what  course  was  to  be  taken.  The  Earls  of  Argyle 
and  Huntly,  together  with  the  Lord  James,  joined 
the  civic  authorities,  and,  proceeding  out  to  the  mob, 
made  proclamation,  that  all  men  should  instantly 
depart  on  pain  of  death.  This  had  the  desired 
effect ;  the  streets  gradually  became  quiet,  and  Both- 
well  gave  up  his  wild  scheme.  Mary,  next  day, 
ordered  both  the  Duke  of  Chatelherault  and  the  Earl 
of  Bothwell  to  appear  before  her.  The  first  came 
accompanied  hy  a  crowd  of  Protestants,  and  the 
latter  with  an  equal  number  of  Catholics.  But  the 
queen  was  not  to  be  overawed,  and  having  inves- 
tigated the  matter,  Bothwell  was  banished  from 
tourt  for  ten  days.* 

*  Randolph  in  Keith,  p.  210. 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  135 

This  was  only  the  prelude  to  a  still  more  serious 
difference,  which  took  place  between  these  untamed 
and  irascible  nobles.  The  Earl  of  Arran  appeared 
before  the  queen,  and  declared  that  a  powerful  con- 
spiracy  had  been  formed  against  the  life  of  the  Lord 
James,  upon  whom  the  title  of  Earl  of  Mar,  as  prelimi- 
nary to  that  of  Murray,  had  recently  been  conferred. 
This  conspiracy,  he  said,  had  originated  with  him- 
self and  his  father,  who  were  beginning  to  tremble, 
lest  the  newly-created  earl's  influence  with  the 
queen  might  induce  her  to  set  aside  the  Hamilton 
succession,  in  favour  of  her  illegitimate  brother. 
That  the  Earl  of  Mar  had  really  proposed  some  such 
arrangement  seems  to  be  established  on  good  au- 
thority.* The  Earl  of  Huntly,  together  with  Mar's 
old  enemy,  Bothwell,  had  been  induced  by  the 
Hamiltons  to  join  in  this  plot.  The  intention  was, 
to  shoot  the  Earl  of  Mar  when  hunting  with  the 
queen,  to  obtain  for  the  Hamiltons  his  authority  in 
the  government,  and  to  give  the  Catholic  party 
greater  weight  in  the  state.  Huntly's  eldest  son, 
the  Lord  Gordon,  was  also  implicated  in  Arran's 
confession.  A  few  days  before  the  whole  of  these 
plans  were  to  be  carried  into  execution,  the  weak 
and  vacillating  Arran,  according  to  his  own  decla- 
ration, had  been  seized  with  remorse  of  conscience ; 
and,  actuated  by  his  ancient  friendship  for  Mar,  and 
his  love  for  the  queen,  determined  on  disclosing 
every  thing. 

Historians  seem  to  have  been  puzzled  what  degree 
of  dependence  they  should  place  upon  the  truth  of 
this  strange  story,  told  by  one  who  was  already  half- 
crazed,  and  soon  afterward  altogether  insane.  That 
there  is  good  reason,  however,  for  giving  credit  to 
his  assertions  is  evident  from  the  manner  in  which 
all  contemporary  writers  speak,  arid  the  fact  that  the 
queen  sent  both  him  and  Bothwell  to  prison.  When 
the  affair  was  further  investigated,  it  was  found  tc 

*  Goodall,  vol.  i.  p.  199,  et  seq. 


136  LIFE    OF    MART 

involve  so  many  of  the  first  nobility  of  the  land,  -aid 
among  others  Arran's  own  father,  Chatelherault, 
whom  he  could  never  be  expected  publicly  to  accuse, 
that  Mary  resolved  not  to  push  matters  to  extremity 
against  any  one.  She  ordered  the  Duke  of  Chatel- 
herault, however,  to  deliver  up  the  castle  of  Dumbar- 
ton; and  at  the  Earl  of  Mar's  instigation  she  kept 
Bothwell  a  prisoner,  first  in  the  castle  of  St.  Andrews, 
and  afterward  in  that  of  Edinburgh,  until  he  made 
his  escape,  and  left  the  country  for  upwards  of  two 
years.  It  is  remarkable  that  this  conspiracy  should 
not  have  been  hitherto  dwelt  upon  at  greater  length, 
tending  as  it  does  to  develope  the  secret  motives  by 
which  the  Earl  of  Mar  was  actuated  in  his  subsequent 
feuds  with  the  Earl  of  Huntly.*  It  is  worth  recol- 
lecting too,  though  the  fact  has  not  been  previously 
noticed,  that  this  was  the  first  occasion  on  which 
Bothwell  aimed  at  making  himself  master  of  tho 
queen's  person.  The  design,  though  unsuccessful, 
shows  the  spirit  which  long  continued  to  actuate  him. 
Had  Mary  fallen  into  his  hands  at  this  period,  it  is 
not  likely  that  she  would  ever  have  had  it  in  her  power 
to  many  Darnley,  and  the  whole  complexion  of  her 
fate  might  have  been  changed. 

In  February,  1652,  Mary  gave  a  series  of  splendid 
entertainments  on  the  occasion  of  the  marriage  of 
her  favourite  brother,  James.  He  was  then  in  the 
thirty-first  year  of  his  age,  and  chose  for  his  wife 
Lady  Agnes  Keith,  eldest  daughter  of  the  Earl  of 
Marschall.  The  marriage  was  solemnized  in  the 
church  of  St.  Giles,  and  Knox  took  advantage  of  the 
occasion  to  offer  the  Lord  James  a  wholesome  but 
somewhat  curiously-expressed  advice ;  "  for,"  said 
the  preacher  to  him,  "  unto  this  day  has  the  kirk  of 
God  received  comfort  by  you,  and  by  your  labours ; 
in  the  which,  if  hereafter  you  shall  be  found  fainter 

*  Freebairo's  translation  of  Bois  Guilbert,  p.  32,  et  seq. ;  Knox'*  His- 
tory, p.  307 ;  Chalmers,  vol.  i.  p.  62,  and  vol.  U.  p.  912 ;  Keith  p.  215  am? 
416,  and  Goodall,  vol.  i.  p.  191. 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  137 

than  you  were  before,  it  will  be  said  that  yc/ur  wife 
has  changed  your  nature."  Knox  and  his  friends 
were  subsequently  much  scandalized  by  "  the  great- 
ness of  the  banqueting,  and  the  vanity  thereof," 
which  characterized  the  honeymoon.  The  issue  of 
this  marriage  was  three  daughters,  Iwo  of  whom 
married  Scotch  noblemen,  and  the  third  died  young.* 
In  August,  1562,  Mary  commenced  the  progress 
into  the  north  which,  in  so  far  as  some  of  her  prin- 
cipal nobility  were  concerned,  was  attended  with 
such  very  important  consequences. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Manfs  Expedition  to  the  North. 

THE  Lord  James,  now  Earl  of  Mar,  had  for  some 
time  felt  that  so  long  as  he  was  regarded  with  sus- 
picion by  the  Hamiltons,  and  with  ill-concealed 
hatred  by  the  Earl  of  Huntly  and  the  Gordons,  his 
power  could  not  be  so  stable,  nor  his  influence  so 
extensive  as  he  desired.  If  it  is  true  that  he  had 
already  proposed  to  Mary  to  set  aside  the  succes- 
sion of  the  Earl  of  Arran,  it  is  equally  true  that  she 
had  refused  his  request.  Foiled,  therefore,  in  this, 
his  more  ambitious  aim,  he  saw  the  necessity  of  limit- 
ing, in  the  mean  time,  to  more  moderate  bounds, 
his  views  of  personal  preferment.  With  regard  to 
the  Hamiltons,  he  had  succeeded  in  securing  their 
banishment  from  court,  and  in  making  them  objects 
of  suspicion  and  dislike  to  the  queen.  There  wa.s 
not  indeed  sufficient  talent  in  the  family  ever  to  have 
made  it  formidable  to  him,  had  it  not  been  that  it  was 
of  the  blood-royal.  Though  not  possessing  this 

*  Knox,  p.  309;  Chalmers,  vol.  ii.  p.  425. 


138  LIFE     OF     MARY 

advantage,  the  Gordons  were  always  looked  upon  by 
Mar  as  more  dangerous  rivals.  He  had  long  nursed 
a  secret  desire  at  least  to  weaken,  if  not  to  crush 
altogether,  the  power  of  Huntly.  In  getting  him- 
self  created  Earl  of  Mar  he  had  made  one  step  to- 
wards his  object.  The  lands  which  went  along  with 
this  title  were  part  of  the  royal  demesnes ;  but  had 
for  some  time  been  held  in  fee  by  the  Earls  of  Huntly. 
Her  brother  had  prevailed  upon  Mary  to  recall  them 
in  his  favour,  and  he  was  thus  able  to  set  himself 
down  in  the  very  heart  of  a  country  which  had 
hitherto  acknowledged  no  master  who  did  not  belong 
to  the  house  of  Gordon.  Huntly  felt  this  encroach- 
ment bitterly;  and  it  makes  it  the  more  probable 
that  he  had  secretly  joined  with  Arran  in  his  plot 
upon  Mar ;  at  any  rate,  Mar  gave  him  full  credit  for 
having  done  so.  Their  mutual  animosity  being  thus 
exasperated  to  the  highest  pitch,  Huntly  left  the 
court,  and  the  prime  minister  waited  anxiously  for 
the  first  opportunity  that  might  occur  to  humble 
effectually  the  great  leader  of  the  Catholics. 

In  prosecution  of  his  purpose,  Mar  now  obtained 
a  grant  under  the  privy  seal  of  the  earldom  of  Mur- 
ray. A  grant  under  the  privy  seal  constituted  only 
an  inchoate,  not  a  complete  title.  To  ratify  the 
grant  and  make  it  legal  it  was  necessary  to  have  the 
great  seal  also  affixed  to  it.  The  great  seal,  how- 
ever, was  in  the  custody  of  Huntly,  as  lord  chan- 
cellor; and  as  Mar  well  knew  that  the  grant  of  this 
second  earldom  infringed  upon  Huntly's  rights  even 
more  than  the  former,  he  saw  the  propriety  of  keep- 
ing it  secret  for  some  time.  The  earldom  of  Mur- 
ray, which,  with  its  lands  and  appurtenances,  was 
bestowed  upon  Huntly  in  1549.  for  his  services  in 
the  war  with  England,  had  been  again  recalled  by 
the  crown  in  1554,  when  Huntly  fell  under  the  displea- 
sure of  the  queen-regent,  in  consequence  of  having 
refused  to  punish  with  fire  and  sword  some  High- 
and  rebels.  But  in  1559,  the  title  and  lands  were 


OF    SCOTS.  139 

restored,  ix>t  as  a  free  grant,  but  as  a  lease  during 
five  years,  to  Huntly,  his  wife,  and  heirs,  on  the  con- 
dition of  a  yearly  payment  of  2500  merks  Scots. 
Till  1564,  therefore,  Huntly  was  entitled  to  consider 
himself  master  of  all  the  lands  and  revenues  of  this 
earldom.  But  in  1561  the  title  and  lands  were  pri- 
vately conferred  upon  the  Earl  of  Mar.  It  is  true, 
that  he  might  have  applied  thus  early  only  to  prevent 
himself  from  being  anticipated,  and  might  not  have 
intended  to  encroach  on  Huntly's  rights  before  the 
legal  period  of  his  enjoying  them  had  expired.  The 
advantage,  however,  he  so  eagerly  took  of  an 
incident  that  occurred  in  the  month  of  June,  1562, 
proves  that  Mar  had  never  any  intention  to  keep  his 
title  to  the  earldom  of  Murray  locked  up  for  three 
years.* 

The  father  of  James,  Lord  Ogilvy,  had  married 
one  of  the  Earl  of  Huntly's  sisters,  who  gave  her 
some  lands  in  liferent  as  her  dowry.  Upon  her  hus- 
band's death,  considerations  induced  her  to  surren- 
der the  liferent  to  her  brother,  and  the  earl  then  gave 
it  to  his  son,  Sir  John  Gordon.  But  Lord  Ogilvy  was 
displeased  with  his  mother's  conduct,  and  questioned 
its  legality.  The  matter,  however,  was  decided 
against  him,  though  not  before  it  had  occasioned 
much  bad  blood  between  him  and  Sir  John  Gordon. 
These  two  noblemen  unfortunately  met  on  the  streets 
of  Edinburgh;  and  though  Sir  John  had  married 
Ogilvy's  sister,  all  ties  of  relationship  were  disre- 
garded, and  an  affray  took  place,  in  which  both  were 
assisted  by  their  respective  servants.  It  does  not 
exactly  appear  who  was  the  aggressor  in  this  scuffle, 
but,  from  the  circumstances  which  led  to  it,  the  prob- 
ability is  that  it  was  Ogilvy.  Both  noblemen  were 
severely  wounded ;  and  the  magistrates,  enraged  at 
their  breach  of  the  peace,  committed  them  to  prison.f 

*  Chalmers,  rol.  i.  p.  78  ;  voL  li.  p.  293,  et  seq. ;  and  p.  426,  et  seq. 
f  Knox,  p.  315;  Goodall,  vol.  i.  p.  192.    Chalmers  says  that  Sir  John 
Gordon's  antagonist  was  rot  a  Lord  Ogilvy,  but  only  James  Ogilvy  of 


140  LIFE    OF    MART 

Mary,  with  her  court,  was  at  Stirling,  but  the  Earl  «»f 
Mar  obtained  permission  to  depart  for  Edinburgh,  to 
examine  into  the  whole  affair.  The  son  of  the  Earl 
of  Huntly  was  now  within  his  power,  and  he  saw 
the  advantages  which  might  be  made  to  accrue  to 
himself  in  consequence.  After  examination,  he  or- 
dered the  Lord  Ogilvy  and  his  retainers  to  be  set  at 
liberty,  but  Sir  John  Gordon  he  sent  to  the  common 
jail.  Sir  John,  not  liking  to  trust  himself  in  such 
hands,  made  his  escape,  after  remaining  in  prison  for 
about  a  month,  and  proceeded  to  hi"  father's  house  in 
the  north  to  recite  to  him  his  grievances.* 

Such  being  the  state  of  feeling  subsisting  between 
the  queen's  prime  minister  and  these  great  northern 
chieftains,  it  can  scarcely  be  allowed  that  Robertson 
expresses  himself  correctly  when  he  says,  "  The 
queen  happened  to  set  out  on  a  progress  into  the 
northern  parts  of  the  kingdom."  Her  motions  were 
at  this  time  entirely  regulated  by  the  Earl  of  Mar, 
who,  seeing  the  contempt  which  had  been  offered  to 
her  authority  by  the  flight  of  his  son,  felt  satisfied 
that  Mary  could  not  pass  through  the  extensive  ter- 
ritories of  Huntly  without  either  giving  or  receiving 
some  additional  cause  of  offence,  which  would  in  all 
probability  lead  to  consequences  favourable  to  Mar's 
ambition.  Unless  this  hypothesis  be  adopted,  no 
rational  cause  can  be  assigned  why  the  queen  should 
have  chosen  this  particular  season  for  her  visit  to  the 
North.  From  the  recent  suspicion  which  had  at- 
tached to  the  Earl  of  Huntly,  as  one  of  Arran's  col- 
leagues in  a  conspiracy  against  her  favourite  minis- 
ter, and  the  still  more  recent  conduct  of  his  son,  Sir 
John  Gordon,  she  certainly  could  have  no  intention 
to  pay  that  family  the  compliment  of  honouring  them 
with  her  royal  presence  as  a  guest.  North  of  Aber- 

Cardell,  a  son  of  the  deceased  Alexander  Ogilvy,  of  Findlater.  Bat  as  b< 
does  not  give  any  authority  for  this  assertion,  we  have  preferred  follow 
ing  KDOX,  Goodall,  and  Robertson. 

*  Chalmers,  vol  i.  p.  80 ;  and  TO!  it  p.  298 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS  141 

dec.li,  however,  nearly  the  whole  country  was  sub- 
servient to  Huntly ;  and  if  Mary  did  not  pass  through 
it  as  a  friend,  she  must  as  an  enemy.  This  was  the 
consideration  that  prompted  the  Earl  of  Mar  to  fix 
this  year  for  the  expedition.  It  was  owing  to  nego- 
tiations with  Elizabeth  concerning  a  personal  inter- 
view between  the  two  queens,  that  Mary  was  unable 
to  set  out  till  towards  the  middle  of  August. 

The  queen  left  Edinburgh  on  horseback,  as  usual, 
attended  by  a  very  considerable  train.  Among 
others,  four  members  of  her  privy  council  went  with 
her — the  Earls  of  Argyle,  Morton,  Marschall,  and 
Mar, — the  first  three  of  whom  had  no  particular 
liking  for  Huntly,  and  were,  besides,  entirely  under 
the  direction  of  the  last.  Randolph  also  attended 
the  queen  in  this  journey,  and  furnishes  some  details 
concerning  it.  On  the  18th  of  August,  1562,  she  left 
Stirling,  and  after  a  disagreeable  and  fatiguing  jour- 
ney arrived  at  Old  Aberdeen  on  the  27th.  Here  she 
remained  for  several  days ;  and  all  the  nobility  in 
these  parts  came  to  pay  their  homage  to  her.  Among 
the  rest  were  the  Earl  and  Countess  of  Huntly,  who 
entreated  her  to  honour  them  with  a  visit  at  Huntly 
Castle,  informing  her  that  they  had  endeavoured  to 
make  suitable  preparations  for  her  entertainment. 
Mary,  at  Mar's  instigation,  of  course  (for,  as  far  as 
her  own  feelings  were  concerned,  she  must  have 
looked  with  favour  upon  the  first  Catholic  peer  of 
the  realm),  received  them  coldly.  This  was  but  a 
poor  return  for  Huntly's  long-tried  fidelity  to  her- 
self and  family ;  for,  whatever  quarrels  he  may  have 
had  with  the  nobility,  he  had  always  preserved  in- 
violate his  respect  for  the  royal  prerogative.  His 
son,  Sir  John  Gordon,  also  came  to  Aberdeen,  and 
surrendered  himself  to  the  queen,  to  be  dealt  with 
as  her  justice  might  direct.  He  was  neither  tried 
nor  taken  into  custody ;  but,  with  more  refined 
policy,  he  was  ordered  by  Mar  and  the  rest  of  the 
queen's  council  to  proceed  voluntarily  to  Stirling 


142  LIFE    O*    MARY 

Castle,  and  there  deliver  himself  as  a  prisoner  to  th .» 
keeper,  Lord  Erskine,  Mar's  uncle.  It  was  no  doubt 
foreseen  that  this  order,  so  disproportioned  in  iig 
severity  to  the  offence  which  occasioned  it,  would 
not  be  complied  with,  nor  was  it  wished  that  it 
should.  Guided  by  similar  advice,  Mary  refused  to 
visit  the  residence  of  the  Earl  of  Huntly — a  refusal 
which  was  pathetically  lamented  by  Randolph,  as  it 
was  "  within  three  miles  of  her  way,  and  the  fairest 
house  in  this  country."  We  learn  from  the  same 
authority,  that  there  was  such  a  scarcity  of  accom- 
modation in  Old  Aberdeen,  that  Randolph  and  Mail- 
land  the  secretary,  who  had  recently  returned  from 
England,  were  obliged  to  sleep  together  in  the  same 
bed.  This  is  perhaps  rendered  the  less  remarkable, 
when  we  are  informed  that  there  were  at  the  univer- 
sity only  fifteen  or  sixteen  scholars. 

On  the  1st  of  September,  Mary  left  Aberdeen  for 
Inverness ;  but  in  the  interval  the  Earl  of  Mar,  per- 
ceiving that  there  might  be  some  occasion  for  their 
services,  had  collected  a  pretty  strong  body  of  men, 
who  marched  forward  with  the  queen  and  her  train. 
In  journeying  northward  she  travelled  by  Rothiemay, 
Grange,  Balvenie,  and  Elgin,  passing  very  near  the 
Earl  of  Huntly's  castle.  No  entreaty  would  induce 
her  to  enter  it ;  hut  she  permitted  the  Earl  of  Argyle 
and  Randolph  to  partake  of  its  hospitality  for  two 
days.  "  The  Earl  of  Huntly's  house,"  says  Ran- 
dolph, "  is  the  best  furnished  that  I  have  seen  in  this 
country.  His  cheer  is  marvellous  great ;  his  mind 
then  such,  as  it  appeared  to  us,  as  ought  to  be  in  any 
subject  to  his  sovereign." 

On  the  8th  of  September,  Mary  went  from  Elgin  to 
Tarnaway,  the  baronial  residence  of  the  earldom  of 
Murray,  and  at  that  time  in  possession  of  a  tenant  of 
the  Earl  of  Huntly.  Information  being  there  re- 
ceived that  Sir  John  Gordon's  friends  and  vassals, 
exasperated  at  the  over-degree  of  rigour  with  which 
he  was  treated,  were  assembling  in  arms,  and  that 


U.UEEN    OF    SCOTS.  14S 

Sir  John,  instead  of  going  to  Stirling,  had  joined  the 
rebels — a  proclamation  was  issued,  chaiging  him  to 
surrender,  by  way  of  forfeit,  into  the  queen's  hands 
his  houses  and  fortresses  of  Findlater  and  Auchin- 
doune.  This  proclamation  was  expressed  with  a 
bitterness  which  must  only  have  enraged  the  dis- 
contents the  more.  It  required  the  surrender  ol 
these  strongholds,  with  the  avowed  intention  of 
breaking  the  power  of  the  rebels ;  and  in  considera- 
tion of  her  majesty  having  heard  "  the  many 
grievous  complaints  of  the  poor  people  of  this  coun- 
;ry, — hearing  them  to  be  iierreit  (robbed)  and  op- 
pressed by  him  ana  his  accomplices  in  times  by-past ; 
and  fearing  the  like,  or  worse,  should  be  done  in 
time  coming."  The  same  proclamation  described 
Sir  John  Gordon's  wife,  as  "  Lady  Findlater,  his  pre- 
tended spouse."* 

Fearing  that  even  all  this  might  not  be  enough  to 
induce  Huntly  to  take  such  steps  as  might  be  plau- 
sibly construed  into  treason,  Mar  now  for  the  first 
time  produced  his  title  to  the  earldom  of  Murray, 
and  assumed  the  name.  The  only  meeting  of  coun- 
cil held  north  of  Aberdeen  was  at  Tarnavvay ;  and 
at  the  first  council  after  the  queen  had  returned 
to  Aberdeen  we  find  Mar's  name  changed  to  that  of 
Murray.  Robertson,  who  has  followed  Buchanan's, 
or  in  other  words  Murray's  own  account  of  the 
transactions  in  the  north,  in  referring  Mar's  as- 
sumption of  the  earldom  of  Murray  to  a  later  date, 
forgets  that  it  must  have  been  sanctioned  by  Mary 
and  her  council ;  and  that  the  only  opportunity  for 
doing  so,  in  the  interval  of  their  departure  from  and 
return  to  Aberdeen,  was  at  Tarnaway.f 

This  new  insult  upon  himself  and  family  was,  as 
Murray  expected,  deeply  felt  by  the  Earl  of  Huntly. 
He  began  to  suspect  that  it  was  intended  to  ruin 
him;  and  in  this  extremity,  with  evident  reluctance, 

*  Keith,  ;.  225  t  Ibid.  p.  8M. 


144  LIFE    OF    MART 

he  prepared  to  defend  himself.  Mary,  meanwhile, 
marched  forward  to  Inverness.  "  On  her  arrival,*' 
says  Robertson,  "the  commanding  officer  in  the 
castle,  by  Huntly's  orders,  shut  the  gates  against  her." 
The  gates  were  shut,  but  certainly  not  by  Huntly's 
orders ;  for  as  soon  as  he  heard  that  the  castle  had 
been  summoned,  he  sent  his  express  commands  to 
the  governor  (who  had  acted  upon  his  own  responsi- 
bility) to  surrender  it.  These  commands,  however, 
came  too  late ;  the  castle  had  been  taken  by  storm, 
and  the  governor  put  to  death.  What  right  the  Earl 
of  Murray,  or  even  the  queen  herself,  had  to  demand 
the  surrender  of  the  castle,  which  belonged  heredi 
tarily  to  Lord  George  Gordon,  the  Earl  of  Huntly's 
eldest  son,  does  not  appear.  As  Chalmers  remarks, 
the  whole  proceeding  seems  to  have  been  illegal  and 
unwarrantable.  Huntly,  who  was  on  his  way  to 
Inverness  to  attempt  an  arrangement  of  these  dis- 
putes by  a  personal  interview  with  the  queen,  when 
he  heard  of  the  execution  of  the  governor,  returned 
to  his  castle.* 

The  Gordons  were  now  fairly  roused ;  and,  col- 
lecting their  followers,  they  determined  to  act  reso- 
lutely, but  not  as  aggressors.  Mary  was  made  to 
believe  that  she  was  in  the  midst  of  a  hostile  coun- 
try ;  and  though  there  was  in  reality  no  intention  to 
attack  her,  every  means  was  taken  to  inspire  her 
with  fear,  and  to  convince  her  of  the  treacherous  de- 
signs of  the  Earl  of  Huntly.  But  Mary  had  a 
courageous  spirit  when  it  was  necessary  to  exert  it. 
"  In  all  those  garbrilles,"  says  Randolph,  "  I  never 
saw  the  queen  moved — never  dismayed ;  nor  never 
thought  I  that  stomach  to  be  in  her  that  I  find.  She 
repented  nothing,  but  when  the  lords  and  others 
at  Inverness  came  in  the  morning  from  the  watch, 
that  she  was  not  a  man,  to  know  what  life  it  was  U 
he  all  night  in  the  fields,  or  to  walk  upon  the  cause 

*  Chalmers,  v«'  i.  p.  84,  and  vol.  li.  p.  308. 


c^UEEN    OF    SCOTS.  1 45 

way  with  a  jack  and  knapsack,  a  Glasgow  buckler, 
and  a  broadsword." 

On  the  15th  of  September  the  queen  returned 
southward.  She  had  with  her  about  two  thousand 
man ;  and  as  she  advanced  their  number  increased 
to  three  thousand.  She  marched  by  Kilravock  and 
Tarnaway  to  Spynie  Castle.  Thence  she  proceeded 
through  the  country  of  the  Gordons,  crossing  the 
Spey  at  Fochabers,  and  going  by  the  way  of  Cullen 
and  Banff.  Thioughout  the  whole  course  of  this 
march,  Murray  took  care  to  make  her  believe  that 
she  was  in  danger  of  being  attacked  every  moment. 
If  there  had  been  any  enemy  to  fight  with,  "  what 
desperate  blows,"  says  Randolph,  "  would  not  have 
been  given,  when  every  man  should  have  fought  in 
the  sight  of  so  noble  a  queen,  and  so  many  fair 
ladies!"  The  only  incidents  which  seem  to  have 
occurred  were  summonses  to  surrender,  given  by 
sound  of  trumpet,  at  Findlater-house  and  at  Deck- 
ford,  mansions  of  Sir  John  Gordon.  The  keepers 
of  both  refused ;  but  they  were  not  acting  upon  their 
master's  authority.  Having  slept  a  night  at  the 
Laird  of  Banff's  house,  Mary  returned,  on  the  22d 
of  September,  to  Aberdeen.  Her  entry  into  the  New 
Town  was  celebrated  by  the  inhabitants  with  every 
demonstration  of  respect.  Spectacles,  plays,  and 
interludes  were  devised ;  a  richly- wrought  silver  cup, 
with  500  crowns  in  it,  was  presented  to  her ;  and 
wine,  coals,  and  wax  were  sent  in  great  abundance 
to  her  lodgings. 

But  the  Earl  of  Murray  was  not  yet  satisfied  that 
he  had  humbled  the  Gordons  enough.  It  was  true, 
that  the  lands  of  Sir  John  had  been  forfeited ;  that 
the  castle  or  Lord  George  had  been  captured ;  and 
that  the  title  and  estates  of  the  earldom  of  Murray 
had  been  wrested  from  Huntly.  But  Huntly's  power 
still  remained  nearly  as  great  as  ever ;  and  it  seemed 
doubtful  whether  Murray  would  ever  be  able  to 
seat  himself  quietly  in  his  new  possessions,  situated 
31—10 


146  LIFE    OF    MARY 

as  they  were  in  the  very  heart  of  the  eari's  domains. 
The  privy  council  were  therefore  prevailed  upon  to 
come  to  the  resolution  that  the  Earl  of  Huntly,  in 
the  language  of  Randolph,  "  shall  either  submit  him- 
self  and  deliver  his  disobedient  son  John,  or  utterly 
to  use  all  force  against  him,  for  the  subversion  of  his 
AOUSC  far  ever."  To  enforce  this  determination, 
Muiray  levied  soldiers,  and  sent  into  Lothian  and 
Fife  for  officers  in  whom  he  could  place  confidence, 
particularly  Lindsay  and  Grange.  With  what  show 
of  reason  the  unfortunate  Huntly  could  be  subjected 
to  so  severe  a  fate  it  is  difficult  to  say.  He  had  come 
to  offer  his  obedience  and  hospitality  to  the  queen 
on  her  first  arrival  at  Aberdeen, — he  remained  per- 
fectly quiet  during  her  journey  through  that  part  of 
the  country  which  was  subject  to  him, — he  sent  to 
her,  after  she  returned  to  Aberdeen,  the  keys  of  the 
houses  of  Findlater  and  Deckford,  which  she  had 
summoned  unsuccessfully  on  her  march  from  Cullen 
to  Banff, — and  he  delivered  to  her,  out  of  his  own 
castle,  a  field- piece  which  the  regent  Arran  had  long 
ago  given  to  him,  and  which  Mary  now  demanded. 
He  added,  that  "  not  only  that,  which  was  her  own, 
but  also  his  body  and  goods,  were  at  her  grace's 
commands."*  His  wife,  the  Countess  of  Huntly, 
led  Captain  Hay,  the  person  sent  for  the  cannon, 
into  the  chapel  at  her  castle,  and  placing  herself  at 
the  altar,  said  to  him,  "  Good  friend,  you  see  here 
the  envy  that  is  borne  unto  my  husband.  Would 
he  have  forsaken  God  and  his  religion,  as  those  that 
are  now  about  the  queen's  grace  and  have  the  whole 
guiding  of  her  have  done,  my  husband  had  never 
been  put  at  as  now  he  is.  God,  and  He  that  is  upop 
this  holy  altar,  whom  I  believe  in,  will,  I  am  sure, 
preserve,  and  let  our  true  meaning  hearts  be  known 
and  as  I  have  said  unto  you,  so,  I  pray  you,  let 
it  be  said  unto  your  mistress.  My  husband  was 

*  Chalmers,  vol.  li.  p.  306. 


ftlTKEN    OF    SCOTS.  147 

erer  obedient  unto  her,  and  so  will  die  her  faithful 
subject."* 

That  Mary  should  have  given  her  sanction  to  these 
iniquitous  proceedings  can  only  be  accounted  for  by 
supposing,  what  was  in  truth  the  case,  that  she  was 
kept  in  ignorance  of  every  thing  tending  to  exculpate 
Huntly,  while  various  means  were  invented  to  inspire 
her  with  a  belief,  that  he  had  conceived,  and  was 
intent  upon  executing,  a  diabolical  plot  against  her- 
self and  government.  It  was  given  out  that  his 
object  was  to  seize  upon  the  queen's  person, — to 
marry  her  by  force  to  his  son  Sir  John  Gordon, — and 
to  cut  off  Murray,  Morton,  and  Maitland,  his  principal 
enemies.f  Influenced  by  these  misrepresentations, 
which  would  have  been  smiled  at  in  later  times,  but 
which,  in  those  days,  were  taken  more  seriously,  the 
queen  put  the  fate  of  Huntly  into  the  hands  of  Mur- 
ray. Soon  after  her  return  to  Aberdeen,  an  expedi 
tion  was  secretly  prepared  against  Huntly's  «astle. 
If  resistance  was  offered,  the  troops  sent  for  *e 

*  Chalmers,  vol.  i.  p.  90. 

f  "  The  time  and  place  for  perpetrating  this  horrid  deed,"  says  Ro 
bertson,  "  were  frequently  appointed;  but  the  executing  of  it  was  won 
derfully  prevented  by  some  of  those  unforeseen  accidents  which  so  often 
•ccnr  to  disconcert  the  schemes,  and  to  intimidate  the  hearts,  of  assas- 
sins," There  is  something  strangely  inconsistent  between  this  state- 
ment, and  that  which  Robertson  makes  immediately  afterward  in  a  note, 
where  he  says,—"  Vfe  have  imputed  the  violent  conduct  of  the  Earl  of 
Huntly  to  a  sudden  start  of  resentment,  without  charging  him  with  any 
premeditated  purpose  of  rebellion."  And  that  Huntly  did  not  intend  U 
seize  the  queen  and  her  ministers,  the  historian  argues  upon  these 
grounds :— "  1st,  On  the  queen's  arrival  in  the  north,  he  laboured  in  good 
earnest  to  gain  her  favour,  and  to  obtain  a  pardon  for  his  son. — 3d,  He 
met  the  queen  first  at  Aberdeen  and  then  at  Rothiemay,  whither  he 
would  not  have  ventured  to  come  had  he  harboured  any  such  treasonable 
resolution.— 3d,  His  conduct  was  irresolute  and  wavering,  like  that  of  a 
man  disconcerted  by  an  unforeseen  danger,  not  like  one  executing  a  con- 
certed plan. — 4th,  The  most  considerable  persons  of  his  clan  submitted 
to  the  queen,  and  found  surety  to  obey  her  commands  :  had  the  earl  been 
previously  determined  to  rise  in  arms  against  the  queen,  or  to  seize  her 
ministers,  it  is  probable  he  would  have  imparted  it  to  his  principal  fol- 
lowers, nor  would  they  have  deserted  him  in  this  manner."  Yet  in 
direct  opposition  to  this  view  of  the  matter,  Robertson,  in  telling  the  story 
of  Huntly's  wrongs,  throws  upon  him  the  whole  blame,  and  entirely  ex* 
culpates  Murray  — Robertson,  vol.  L  p.  222,  et  seq. 

I — M 


148  LIFE    OF    MARY 

purpose  were  to  take  it  by  force,  and  if  admitted 
without  opposition,  they  were  to  bring  Huntly  a 
prisoner  to  Aberdeen.  Intimation,  however,  of  this 
enterprise  and  its  object  was  conveyed  to  the  earl, 
and  he  contrived  to  baffle  its  success.  His  wife  re- 
ceived the  party  with  all  hospitality ;  threw  open  her 
doors,  and  entreated  that  they  would  examine  the 
whole  premises,  to  ascertain  whether  they  afforded 
any  ground  of  suspicion.  But  Huntly  himself  took 
care  to  be  out  of  the  way,  having  retired  to  Bade- 
noch.* 

Thus  foiled  again,  Murray,  on  the  15th  of  October, 
called  a  privy  council,  at  which  he  got  it  declared, 
that  unless  Huntly  appeared  on  the  following  day 
before  her  majesty,  "  to  answer  to  such  things  as  are 
to  lay  to  his  charge,"  he  should  be  put  to  the  horn  for 
his  contempt  of  her  authority,  and  "his  houses, 
strengths,  and  friends  taken  from  him."f  However 
willing  he  might  have  been  to  have  ventured  thus 
into  the  lion's  den,  Huntly  could  not  possibly  have 
appeared  within  the  time  appointed.  On  the  17th  of 
October,  he  was  therefore  denounced  a  rebel  in  terms 
of  the  previous  proclamation,  and  his  lands  and  titles 
declared  forfeited.^  Even  yet,  however,  Huntly 
acted  with  forbearance.  He  sent  his  countess  to 
Aberdeen  on  the  20th,  who  requested  admission  to 
the  queen's  presence,  that  she  might  make  manifest 
he'r  husband's  innocence.  So  far  from  obtaining  an 
audience,  this  lady,  who  was  respected  and  loved 
over  the  whole  country,  was  not  allowed  to  come 
within  two  miles  of  the  court,  and  she  returned  home 
with  a  heavy  heart.  As  a  last  proof  of  his  fidelity, 
Huntly  sent  a  messenger  to  Aberdeen,  offering  to 
enter  into  ward  till  his  cause  might  be  tried  by  the 
whole  nobility.  Even  this  offer  was  rejected ;  and, 
goaded  into  madness,  the  unfortunate  earl  at  length 


*  Chalmers,  vol.  i.  p.  93,  and  vol.  ii.  p  306.  t  Keith,  p.  396 

t  Chalmers,  vol.  ii.  p.  307 


OF    SCOTS.  149 

collected  his  followers  round  him,  and,  raising 
the  standard  of  rebellion,  not  against  the  queen, 
but  against  Murray,  advanced  suddenly  upon  Aber- 
deen. 

This  resolute  proceeding  excited  considerable 
alarm  at  court.  Murray,  however,  had  foreseen  the 
probability  of  such  a  step  being  ultimately  taken, 
and  had  been  busy  collecting  forces  sufficient  to  repel 
the  attack.  A  number  of  the  neighbouring  nobility 
had  joined  him,  who,  not  penetrating  the  prime 
minister's  real  motives,  were  not  displeased  to  see  so 
proud  and  powerful  an  earldom  as  that  of  Huntly 
likely  to  fall  to  pieces.  On  the  28th  of  October,  Mur- 
ray marched  out  of  Aberdeen  at  the  head  of  about 
2000  men.  He  found  Huntly  advantageously  sta- 
tioned at  Corrachie,  a  village  about  fifteen  miles  from 
Aberdeen.  Huntly's  force  was  much  inferior  to  that 
of  Murray,  scarcely  exceeding  500  men.  Indeed,  it 
seems  doubtful  whether  he  had  advanced  so  much 
for  the  purpose  of  fighting  as  for  the  sake  of  giving 
greater  weight  to  his  demands  to  be  admitted  into 
the  presence  of  the  queen,  who,  he  always  main- 
tained, had  been  misled  by  false  counsel.  Perceiving 
the  approach,  however,  of  his  inveterate  enemy  Mur- 
ray, and  considering  the  superiority  of  his  own  posi- 
tion on  the  hill  of  Fare,  he  relinquished  all  idea  of 
retreat,  and  determined  at  any  risk  to  accept  the 
battle  which  was  offered  him.  The  contest  was  of 
short  duration.  The  broadswords  of  the  Highland- 
ers, even  had  the  numbers  been  more  equal,  would 
have  been  no  match  for  the  spears  and  regular  disci- 
pline of  Murray's  Lowland  troops.  Their  followers 
fled ;  but  the  Earl  of  Huntly  and  his  two  sons,  Sir 
John  Gordon  and  Adam,  a  youth  of  seventeen,  dis- 
daining to  give  ground,  were  taken  prisoners.  The 
earl,  who  was  advanced  in  life,  was  no  sooner  set 
upon  horseback,  to  be  carried  triumphantly  into  Aber- 
deen, than  the  thoughts  of  the  ruin  which  was  now 
brought  upon  himself  and  his  family  overwhelmed 


150  Lli'E    OF    MARY 

him;  and,  without  speaking  a  word,  or  leceiving  a 
blow,  he  fell  dead  from  his  horse.* 

Sir  John  Gordon,  who  was  pronounced  the  author 
of  all  these  troubles,  having  been  marched  into  Aber- 
deen, was  tried,  condemned,  and  executed.  He  may 
have  been  an  enemy  of  Murray's,  but  so  far  from  be- 
ing a  traitor  to  the  queen,  he  was  one  of  the  most 
devoted  admirers  and  attached  subjects  she  ever  had. 
Yet  Murray  took  care  to  have  it  reported,  that  Sir 
John,  before  he  was  beheaded,  confessed,  that  if  his 

*  Knox,  pi  320 ;  Buchanan's  History,  book  xvii. ;  Chalmers,  vol.  i. 
p.  95,  and  vol.  ii.  p.  309,  whose  authority  is  a  letter  of  Randolph,  preserved 
in  the  paper  office,  and  written  the  evening  of  the  very  day  on  which 
the  battle  took  place.  Randolph,  though  not  on  the  field  himself,  had 
two  servants  there,  and  saw  the  dead  body  of  the  earl,  when  it  was 
brought  into  Aberdeen.  Robertson  and  others  have  said,  that  Huntly. 
who  was  very  corpulent,  was  slain  on  the  field,  or  trodden  to  death  in 
the  pursuit.  Chalmers,  however,  has  truth  on  his  side,  when  he  re- 
marks, that  "  Doctor  Robertson,  who  never  saw  those  instructive  letters 
(of  Randolph),  grossly  misrepresents  the  whole  circumstances  of  thai 
aflkir  at  Corrachie  ;  he  says, '  Huntly  advanced  with  a  considerable  Hirer 
towards  Aberdeen,  and  filled  the  queen's  small  court  with  the  •utmost 
consternation ;  and  that  Murray  had  only  a  handful  of  men  in  whom  he 
could  confide :  but,  by  his  steady  courage  and  prudent  conduct,  gained  a 
miraculous  victory.'  For  the  assertion  of  Murray's  having  only  a  hand- 
ful of  men,  he  quotes  Keith,  p.  230,  in  which  there  is  not  one  word  of 
the  _/orce  at  Corrachie  on  either  side.  The  force  there  spoken  of  is  what 
the  queen  had  about  her  two  months  before  on  her  first  progress  into  the 
north,  not  on  her  return  to  Aberdeen,  after  new  troops  had  been  raised, 
and  old  ones  summoned  to  that  premeditated  and  barbarous  scene." 
Knox  is  also  a  better  authority  upon  this  subject  than  Robertson.  He 
gives  the  following  curious  account  of  the  earl's  death  and  subsequent 
fate : — "  The  earl,  immediately  after  his  taking,  departed  this  life,  without 
any  wound,  or  yet  appearance  of  any  stroke,  whereof  death  might  have 
ensued ;  and  so,  because  it  was  late,  he  was  cast  over  athwart  a  pair  of 
creels,  and  so  was  carried  to  Aberdeen,  and  was  laid  in  the  tolbootli 
thereof,  that  the  response  which  his  wife's  witches  had  given  might  be 
fulfilled,  who  all  affirmed  (as  the  most  part  say)  that  that  same  night  he 
should  be  in  the  tol booth  of  Aberdeen,  without  any  wound  upon  his  body. 
When  his  lady  got  knowledge  thereof,  she  blamed  her  principal  witch, 
called  Janet ;  but  she  stoutly  defended  herselt(as  the  Devil  can  ever  do), 
•nd  affirmed  that  she  gave  a  true  answer,  albeit  she  spoke  not  all  the 
truth  ;  for  she  knew  that  he  should  be  there  dead."  Knox,  p.  328.  "  It 
is  a  memorable  fact,"  Chalmers  elsewhere  remarks,  "  that  Huntly  and 
Sutherland"  (who  was  forfeited  soon  afterward,  as  implicated  in  thi* 
pretended  rebellion)  "  were  two  of  those  nobles  who  had  sent  Bishop 
Lesly  to  Prance,  with  offers  of  duty  and  services  to  the  queen,  while 
Murray,  Maitland,  and  other  considerable  men  offered  their  duties  '1:111 
senrices  to  Elizabeth." 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  151 

father  had  taken  Aberdeen,  he  was  determined  to 
have  "  burned  the  queen,  and  as  many  as  were  in  the 
house  with  her."*  So  palpable  a  falsehood  throws 
additional  light  upon  the  motives  which  instigated 
the  prime  minister  throughout.  With  a  refinement 
of  cruelty,  he  insisted  upon  Mary  giving  her  public 
countenance  to  his  proceedings,  by  consenting  to  be 
present  at  Gordon's  death.  She  was  placed  at  a  win- 
dow, opposite  to  which  the  scaffold  had  been  erected. 
Gordon,  who  was  one  of  the  handsomest  men  of  his 
times,  observed  her,  and  fixing  his  eyes  upon  her, 
"  gave  her  to  understand  by  his  looks,"  says  Free- 
bairn,  "  that  her  presence  sweetened  the  death  he  was 
going  to  suffer  only  for  loving  her  too  well."  He 
then  fell  upon  his  knees,  and  prepared  to  lay  his  head 
upon  the  block.  Mary,  totally  unable  to  stand  this 
scene,  was  already  suffused  in  tears  ;  and  when  she 
was  informed  that  the  unskilful  official,  instead  of 
striking  off  the  head,  had  only  mangled  the  neck,  she 
fainted  away,  and  it  was  some  time  before  she  could 
be  recovered.!  Adam  Gordon  was  indebted  to  his 
youth  for  saving  him  from  his  brother's  fate.  He 
lived  to  be,  as  his  father  had  been,  one  of  Mary's 
most  faithful  servants.  Lord  Gordon,  the  late  earl's 
eldest  son,  who  was  with  his  father-in-law,  the  Duke 
of  Chatelherault,  at  Hamilton,  was  soon  afterward 
seized  and  committed  to  prison,  Murray  finding  it 
convenient  to  declare  him  implicated  in  the  earl's 
guilt.  Having  remained  under  arrest  for  some 
months,  he  was  tried  and  found  guilty,  but  the  execu 
tion  of  his  sentence  was  left  at  the  queen's  pleasure 
She  sent  him  to  Dunbar  castle ;  and  as  Murray  could 
not  prevail  upon  her  to  sign  the  death-warrant,  he 
had  recourse  to  forgery ;  and  had  the  keeper  of  the 
castle  not  discovered  the  deceit,  the  Lord  Gordon's 
fitte  would  have  been  sealed.  Mary  was  content 


Randolph  in  Keith,  p.  230. 

iJtll*  did  Mary  then  dream  of  Fothenngay 


152  LIFE    OF    MART 

with  keepinghim  prisoner,  till  a  change  in  her  adminis- 
tration restored  him  to  favour,  and  to  the  forfeited 
estates  and  honours  of  his  father. 

One  other  incident  connected  with  these  tragical 
events  is  worth  recording.  Means  having  been  taken 
for  the  preservation  of  Huntly's  body,  it  was  sent  by 
sea  to  Leith,  and  lay  for  several  months  at  Holyrood 
House.  In  the  parliament  which  met  in  May,  1563, 
these  melancholy  remains  were  produced,  to  have 
sentence  of  forfeiture  pronounced  against  them. 
To  obviate  if  possible  this  additional  calamity,  the 
Countess  of  Huntly,  widow  of  the  deceased,  appeared 
before  the  parliament,  and  with  the  spirit  of  a  Gordon 
requested  to  be  heard  in  her  late  husband's  defence. 
The  request  was  refused ;  Huntly's  castles  and  houses 
were  rifled  of  their  property,  his  friends  and  vassals 
£ned,  and  many  escheats  granted  to  those  who  had 
assisted  in  crushing  this  once  noble  family.* 

Murray  having  now  no  further  occasion  for  the 
queen's  presence  at  Aberdeen,  the  court  moved 
southwards  on  the  5th  of  November.  On  her  way 
home,  she  visited  Dunnottar  Castle,  Montrose,  Ar- 

»  In  Buchanan's  Cameleon,  a  severe  satire,  •written  at  the  request  of 
his  patron  the  Earl  of  Murray,  when  that  nobleman  quarrelled  with 
Secretary  Maitland,  we  have  the  following  ridiculous  account  of  the 
secret  motives  which  led  to  this  disastrous  northern  expedition.  "  The 
queen,  by  advice  of  her  uncles,  devised  to  destroy  the  Earl  of  Murray, 
thinking  him  to  be  a  great  bridle  to  refrain  her  appetites,  and  impediment 
to  live  at  liberty  of  her  pleasure ;  not  that  he  ever  used  any  violence 
anent  her,  but  that  his  honesty  was  so  great  that  she  was  ashamed  to 
attempt  any  thing  indecent  in  his  presence.  She  then,  being  deliberate 
to  destroy  him,  by  the  Earl  of  Huntly,  went  to  the  north,  and  he  in  bet 
company ;  and  howbeit  t  lie  treason  was  opened  plainly,  and  John  Gordon 
lying  not  far  off  the  town  (Aberdeen)  with  a  great  power,  and  the  Earl 
of  .Murray  expressly  lodged  in  a  house  separate  from  all  other  habita- 
tion, and  his  death  by  divers  ways  sought, — this  Cameleon  (Maitland) 
whether  for  simpleness  or  for  lack  of  foresight,  or  for  boldness  of  courage. 
I  refer  to  every  man's  conscience  that  doth  know  him,  he  alone  could 
•ee  no  treason,  could  fear  no  danger,  and  could  never  believe  that  the 
Earl  of  Huntly  would  take  on  hand  such  an  enterprise."  This  state- 
ment, while  it  gives  some  notion  of  the  dependence  to  be  placed  on  Bu- 
chanan's accuracy  when  influenced  by  party  feelings,  betrays  at  the 
same  time  the  important  secret,  that  Maitland  saw  and  felt  the  injustier 
of  Hunt'.y's  persecution.— Buchanan's  Cameleon,  p.  9 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  153 

broath,  Dundee,  Stirling1,  and  Linlithgow.  She 
arrived  at  Edinburgh  on  the  22d,  having  been  absent 
upwards  of  three  months.  It  is  much  to  be  regretted 
that  she  ever  undertook  this  northern  expedition. 
Though  she  had  little  or  no  share  in  its  guilt,  she  had 
allowed  herself  to  be  made  an  effectual  tool  in  the 
hands  of  Murray,  who  was  now  more  powerful  than 
any  minister  of  Mary's  ought  to  have  been.  He  had 
forced  the  Earl  of  Bothwell  into  exile;  he  had 
brought  the  Duke  of  Chatelherault  and  Arran  into 
disgrace ;  and  having  accomplished  the  death  of  the 
courageous  Huntly,  he  had  obtained  for  himself  and 
friends  the  greater  part  of  that  nobleman's  princely 
estates  and  titles.  Besides,  he  was  more  popular 
among  the  Reformers  than  ever,  for  the  destruction 
of  the  Gordon  family  had  been  long  wished  for  by 
them.  In  short,  though  without  the  name,  he  was 
the  king  of  Scotland,  and  his  sister  Mary  was  his 
subject. 


CHAPTER  X. 

Chatelard's  imprudent  Attachment,  and  Knotfs  persevering 
Hatred 

MARY  returned  from  her  northern  expedition 
towards  the  conclusion  of  the  year  1562.  The  two 
following  years,  1563  and  1564,  undistinguished  as 
they  were  by  any  political  events  of  importance, 
were  the  quietest  and  happiest  she  spent  in  Scotland. 
Her  moderation  and  urbanity  had  endeared  her  to 
her  people ;  and  in  her  own  well-regulated  mind 
existed  a  spring  of  pure  and  abiding  satisfaction. 
Nevertheless,  vexations  of  various  sorts  mingled 


154  LIFE    OF    MARY 

their  bitterness  in  her  cup  of  sweets.  An  occurrence 
which  took  place  early  in  1653  demands  our  attention 
first. 

The  poet  Chatelard  has  been  already  mentioned 
as  one  of  those  who  sailed  in  Mary's  train,  when  she 
came  from  the  Continent.  He  had  attached  himself 
to  the  future  Constable  of  France,  the  Duke  Danville, 
and  was  a  gentleman  of  good  family  and  fortune, 
being  by  the  mother's  side  the  grandriephew  of  the 
celebrated  Chevalier  Bayard.  The  manly  beauty  of 
his  person  was  not  unlike  that  of  his  ancestor ;  and, 
besides  being  well  versed  in  all  the  more  active 
accomplishments  of  the  day,  he  had  softened  and 
refined  his  manners  by  an  ardent  cultivation  of  every 
species  of  belles-lettres.  It  was  this  latter  circum- 
stance that  gained  for  him  the  occasional  favourable 
notice  of  Mary.  A  poetess  herself,  as  much  by  na- 
ture as  by  study,  her  heart  warmed  towards  those 
who  indulged  in  the  same  delightful  art.  Chatelard 
wrote  both  in  French  and  Italian ;  and  finding  that 
Mary  deigned  to  read  and  admire  his  productions,  he 
seems  thenceforth  to  have  made  her  the  only  theme 
of  his  enamoured  and  too  presumptuous  muse.  To 
the  queen  this  was  no  uncommon  compliment.  She 
received  it  gracefully,  and  sometimes  even  amused 
herself  with  answering  Chatelard's  effusions.  This 
condescension  almost  turned  the  young  poet's  brain. 
He  had  left  Scotland  with  the  Duke  Danville,  and 
Mary's  other  French  friends,  at  the  end  of  the  year 
1561 ;  but  he  eagerly  seized  the  opportunity  afforded 
him  by  the  civil  wars  in  France  to  return  before 
twelve  months  had  elapsed.  The  Duke  Danville  sent 
him  to  Mary's  court,  there  is  every  reason  to  believe, 
to  press  upon  her  attention  once  more  his  own  pre- 
tensions to  her  hand.  But  Chatelard,  in  the  indul- 
gence of  his  mad  passion,  forgot  the  duty  he  owed 
his  master ;  and  for  every  word  he  spoke  in  prose 
for  the  duke,  he  spoke  in  verse  twenty  for  himself. 
Mary,  long  accustomed  to  this  species  of  adulation. 


QUEKN    OF    SCOTS.  155 

and  looking  upon  flattery  as  part  of  a  poet's  pro- 
fession, smiled  at  the  more  extravagant  flights  of  his 
imagination,  and  forgot  them  as  soon  as  heard. 
These  smiles,  however,  were  fatal  to  Chatelard. 
"  They  tempted  him,"  says  Brantome, "  to  aspire,  like 
Phaeton,  at  ascending  the  chariot  of  the  sun."  In 
February,  1563,  he  had  the  audacity  to  steal  into  the 
queen's  bedchamber,  armed  with  sword  and  dagger, 
and  attempted  to  conceal  himself  till  Mary  should 
retire  to  rest.  He  was  discovered  by  her  maids  of 
honour;  and  Mary,  though  much  enraged  at  his 
conduct,  was  unwilling,  for  a  first  offence,  to  surrender 
him  to  that  punishment  which  she  knew  would  be 
inflicted  were  it  known  to  her  privy  council.  She 
was  contented  with  reprimanding  him  severely,  and 
ordering  him  from  her  presence. 

This  leniency  was  thrown  away  upon  the  infatuated 
Chatelard.  Only  two  nights  afterward,  the  queen 
having,  in  the  interval,  left  Edinburgh  for  St.  An- 
drews, he  again  committed  the  same  offence.  As  she 
went  to  St.  Andrews  by  the  circuitous  route  of  the 
Queensferry,  she  slept  the  first  night  at  Dumfermline, 
and  the  second  at  Burntisland.  Here  Chatelard  inso- 
lently followed  the  queen  into  her  bedroom,  without 
attempting  any  concealment,  and  assigned,  as  the 
motive  for  his  conduct,  his  desire  to  clear  himself 
from  the  blame  she  had  formerly  imputed  to  him. 
Mary  commanded  him  to  leave  her  immediately,  but 
he  refused ;  upon  which  she  saw  the  necessity  of 
calling  for  assistance.  The  Earl  of  Murray  was  at 
nand,  and  came  instantly.  The  daring  boldness  of 
Chatelard's  conduct  could  no  longer  be  concealed ; 
the  proper  legal  authorities  were  sent  for  from  Edin- 
burgh ;  the  poet  was  tried  at  St.  Andrews,  and  was 
condemned  to  death.  He  was  executed  on  the  22d 
of  February,  and  conducted  himself  bravely,  but  as 
a  confirmed  enthusiast  even  on  the  scaffold.  He 
would  not  avail  himself  of  the  spiritual  advice  of  any 
minister  or  confessor;  but  having  read  Ronsard's 


156  LIFE    OF    MARY 

Hymn  on  Death,  he  turned  towards  the  place  where 
he  supposed  the  queen  was,  and  exclaimed  in  an 
unfaltering  voice,  "  Farewell,  loveliest  and  most 
cruel  princess  whom  the  world  contains !"  He  then, 
with  the  utmost  composure,  laid  his  head  upon  the 
block,  and  submitted,  with  all  resignation,  to  his 
fate.* 

Mary  remained  at  St.  Andrews  till  the  middle  of 
April,  when  she  removed  to  Loch  Leven,  where  she 
had  better  opportunities  of  enjoying  her  favourite 
amusements  of  hunting  and  hawking.  She  went 
thither  in  considerable  grief,  occasioned  by  the  news 
she  had  lately  received  from  France  of  the  death  of 
two  of  her  uncles,  the  Duke  of  Guise  and  the  grand 
prior.  The  former  had  been  barbarously  assassin- 
ated, at  the  siege  of  Orleans,  by  a  Protestant  bigot 
of  the  name  of  Poltrot ;  and  the  latter  had  been  fatally 
wounded  at  the  battle  of  Dreux.  Alluding  triumph- 
antly to  the  murder  of  the  Duke  of  Guise,  Knox  ex- 
pressed himself  in  these  words,  "  God  has  stricken 
that  bloody  tyrant."  This  enmity  to  the  house  of 
Guise,  which  Knox  carried  even  beyond  the  grave, 
was  now  no  novelty.  Some  months  before,  he  had 
taken  occasion  to  preach  a  severe  sermon  against 
Mary  and  her  friends,  in  consequence  of  an  enter- 
tainment she  gave  at  Holyrood  upon  receiving  news 
of  her  uncles'  successes  in  the  French  civil  wars. 
Mary  had,  in  consequence,  sent  for  Knox  a  second 
time,  when  he  repeated  to  her  the  principal  part  of 
his  sermon,  in  a  manner  which  made  it  appear  not 

*  Brantome  in  Jebb,  p.  495,  et  seq. ;  Chalmers,  vol.  i.  p.  101 ;  Free- 
bairn,  p.  25 ;  and  Histoire  de  Marie  Stuart,  torn.  i.  p.  210.  Knox,  a- 
usual,  gives  a  highly  indecorous  and  malicious  account  of  this  affair,  big 
drift  being  to  make  his  readers  believe  (though  he  does  not  venture  to 
•ay  M  in  direct  terras)  that  Mary  had  first  tempted,  and  then  'betrayed 
Chatelard ;  and  that  she  was  anxious  to  have  him  despatched  secretly, 
that  he  might  not  stain  her  honour  by  a  public  confession.  If  such  were 
really  tbe  fact,  it  is  odd  that  Chatelard  should  have  been  brought  to  a 
scaffold,  which  was  surrounded  by  thousands,  and  that,  even  according 
to  Knox  himself,  be  said  nothing  relating  to  Nary  bat  w  hat  U  narrated 
la  the  text.  Vide  Knox's  History,  p  325. 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS  57 

quite  so  obnoxious  as  she  had  been  induced  f>  be- 
lieve. She  had  then  the  magnanimity  to  tell  him, 
that  though  his  words  were  sharp,  she  would  not 
blame  him  for  having  no  good  opinion  of  her  uncles, 
as  they  and  he  were  of  a  different  religion.  She 
only  wished  that  he  would  not  publicly  misrepresent 
them,  without  sufficient  evidence  upon  which  to 
ground  his  charges.  Knox  left  Mary  "  with  a  rea- 
sonable merry  countenance,"  and  some  one  observ- 
ing it,  remarked,  "  He  is  not  afraid !"  Knox's  answer 
is  characteristic,  and  does  him  credit,  "  Why  should 
the  pleasing  face  of  a  gentlewoman  affray  me  ?  I 
have  looked  in  the  faces  of  many  angry  men,  and 
yet  have  not  been  afraid  above  measure." 

The  third  time  that  Knox  was  admitted  into  Mary's 
presence  was  at  Loch  Leven.  This,  as  indeed  every 
interview  she  had  with  the  celebrated  Reformer,  and 
she  had  only  four,  exhibits  her  character  in  a  very 
favourable  point  of  view.  It  appears,  that  while  the 
queen  reserved  for  herself  the  right  of  celebrating 
mass  in  her  own  chapel,  it  was  prohibited  throughout 
the  rest  of  the  kingdom.  Some  instances  had  oc- 
curred in  which  this  prohibition  had  been  disregarded ; 
and  upon  these  occasions  the  over-zealous  Protest- 
ants had  not  scrupled  to  take  the  law  into  their  own 
hands.  Mary  wished  to  convince  Knox  of  the  im- 
propriety of  this  interference.  He  thought  it  neces- 
sary to  oWend  hi*  brethren ;  but  his  answer  to  the 
queen's  simple  question, — "  Will  ye  allow  that  they 
shall  take  my  sword  in  their  hands  ?" — though  la- 
boured, is  quite  inconclusive.  That  "  the  sword  of 
justice  is  God's"  may  be  a  very  good  apothegm 
but  would  be  a  dangerous  precept  upon  which  if 
form  a  practical  rule  in  the  government  of  a  state. 
Mary,  however,  knowing  by  experience  that  it  was 
hopeless  to  attempt  to  change  Knox's  sentiments, 
and  not  wishing  to  enter  into  an  argument  with  him, 
passed  to  other  matters.  Though  she  disliked  the 
rudeness  of  his  manners,  she  had  a  respect  for  the 


158  LIFE    OF   MARY 

unbending  stoicism  of  his  principles ;  aad  having  too 
much  good  sense  to  hold  any  one  responsible  for  the 
peculiarities  of  his  belief,  she  could  not  help  per- 
suading herself  that  she  would  finally  soften  the 
asperity  of  those  with  whom  she  disagreed  only 
upon  articles  of  faith.  With  this  view,  she  con- 
versed with  Knox  upon  various  confidential  matters, 
and  actually  did  succeed  in  winning  for  the  moment 
the  personal  favour  of  her  stern  adversary.  "  This 
interview,"  observes  Dr.  M'Crie,  "  shows  how  fai 
Mary  was  capable  of  dissembling,  what  artifice  she 
could  employ,  and  what  condescensions  she  could 
make,  when  she  was  bent  on  accomplishing  a  favour- 
ite object."  There  is  something  very  uncharitable 
in  the  construction  thus  put  upon  the  queen's  con- 
duct. She  had,  no  doubt,  a  favourite  object  in  view ; 
but  that  object  was  mutual  reconcilement,  and  the 
establishment,  as  far  as  in  her  lay,  of  reciprocal  feel- 
ings of  forbearance  and  good-will  among  all  classes 
of  her  subjects.  The  "  artifice"  she  used  consisted 
merely  in  the  urbanity  of  her  manners,  and  her  de- 
termination to  avoid  all  violence,  in  return  for  the 
violence  which  had  been  exhibited  towards  herself. 
Soon  after  this  conference,  Mary  went  to  Edin- 
burgh, to  open  in  person  the  first  parliament  which 
had  been  held  since  her  return  to  Scotland.  Its  ses- 
sion continued  only  from  the  26th  of  May  to  the  24th 
of  June,  1563 ;  but  during  that  short  period,  business 
of  some  importance  was  transacted.  The  queen  on 
the  first  day  rode  to  the  parliament-house  in  her 
robes  of  state, — the  Duke  of  Chatelherault  carrying 
the  crown,  the  Earl  of  Argyle  the  sceptre,  and  the 
Earl  of  Murray  the  sword.*  She  was  present  on 

*  Chalmers,  in  his  account  of  the  opening  of  this  parliament,  seems 
to  have  committed  an  error.  He  says  (vol.  i.  p.  105),  "  The  queen  cam* 
to  parliament  in  her  robes,  and  was  crowned."  That  any  coronation  took 
place  is  not  at  all  likely.  Chalmers  surely  had  forgotten  that  Mary  was 
.'rowned  at  Stirling  by  Cardinal  Beaton  just  twenty  years  before.  There 
was  no  reason  why  the  ceremony  should  have  been  repeated.  Chalmers' 
mistake  is  probably  founded  upon  the  following  passage  in  a  letter  of 


QUEEN    OF    JCOTS.  15ft 

tnree  or  four  occasions  afterward ;  but  on  the  first 
day  she  made  a  speech  to  the  representatives  of  her 
people,  which  was  received  with  enthusiastic  ap- 
plause. This  applause  was  wormwood  to  Knox, 
who,  with  even  more  than  his  usual  discourtesy 
towards  a  sex  whom  he  seems  to  have  despised, 
says,  "  Such  stinking  pride  of  women  as  was  seen  at 
that  parliament  was  never  before  seen  in  Scotland." 
He  was  heartily  borne  out  in  his  vituperations  by  the 
rest  of  the  preachers.  The  rich  attire  which  Mary 
and  the  ladies  of  her  court  chose  to  wear  were  abomi- 
nations in  their  eyes.  They  held  forth  to  their  re- 
spective flocks  against  the  "  superfluity  of  theii 
clothes,"  the  "targeting  of  their  tails,"  and  "the 
rest  of  their  vanity."  It  was  enough,  they  said,  "  to 
draw  down  God's  wrath  not  only  upon  these  foolish 
women,  but  upon  the  whole  realm."  At  this  parlia- 
ment the  earldoms  of  Huntly  and  Sutherland  were 
declared  forfeited ;  an  act  was  passed  for  preventing 
any  one  from  summoning  the  lieges  together  without 
the  queen's  consent ;  some  judicious  legislative  mea- 
sures of  a  domestic  nature  were  established ;  and  an 
act  of  oblivion  for  all  acts  done  from  the  6th  of 
March,  1558,  to  the  1st  of  September,  1561,  was 
unanimously  carried.  This  act  of  oblivion  was  de- 
clared to  have  no  reference  whatever  to  a  similai 
act  sanctioned  by  the  treaty  of  Edinburgh,  the  rati 
fication  of  which  was  expressly  avoided  by  the 
queen.  Its  object,  however,  was  precisely  the  same, 
namely,  to  secure  the  Reformers  against  any  dis- 

Randolph's. quoted  by  Keith, p. 239.— "The  parliament  began  26th  May, 
on  which  day  the  queen  came  to  it  In  her  robes  and  crowned."  The 
word  was  is  an  interpolation  of  Chalmers.  But  as  Randolph  goes  on 
immediately  to  say,  "  The  dnke  carried  the  crown,  Argyle  the  sceptre." 
&c.,  Chalmers  probably  thought  Mary  could  not  at  the  same  time  wear 
the  crown.  But  the  crown  of  state,  carried  upon  state  occasions,  wus 
no  doubt  different  from  the  crown  made  expressly  to  be  worn  by  the 
reigning  queen.  Buchanan  puts  the  matter  beyond  a  doubt,  for  he  says, 
explicitly,  "  The  queen,  with  the  crown  on  her  head,  and  in  her  royal 
robes,  went  in  great  pomp  to  the  parliament-house- —a  new  sight  tu 
many  * — Buchanan'x  History,  book  xrii 


160  LIF£    OF    MART 

agreeable  consequences  which  might  arise  out  of 
the  violences  they  committed  during  the  first  heat 
of  the  Reformation. 

An  act  of  oblivion  thus  obtained  as  a  free  gift  from 
Mary,  and  not  as  a  consequence  of  his  favourite 
treaty  of  Edinburgh,  was  by  no  means  agreeable  to 
Knox.  He  assembled  some  of  the  leading  members 
of  parliament,  and  urged  upon  them  the  necessity  of 
forcing  from  the  queen  a  ratification  of  this  treaty. 
Kven  the  Protestant  lords,  however,  felt  how  unjust 
such  a  demand  would  be.  The  Earl  of  Murray  him- 
sslf,  one  of  Knox's  oldest  and  stanchest  friends,  re- 
fused to  ask  Mary  to  take  this  step.  Knox,  in  con- 
sequence, solemnly  renounced  Murray's  friendship, 
and  a  coldness  subsisted  between  them  for  nearly 
two  years.  Foiled  in  his  object,  the  Reformer  had 
recourse  to  his  usual  mode  of  revenge.  He  preached 
another  "thundering  sermon."  The  object  of  this 
sermon  was,  to  convince  the  people,  that  as  soon  as 
a  parliament  was  assembled,  they  had  the  queen  in 
their  power  to  make  her  do  what  they  chose.  "  And 
is  this  the  thankfulness  that  ye  render  unto  your 
God,"  said  he,  "  to  betray  his  cause  when  ye  have  it 
in  your  hands  to  establish  it  as  you  please  ?"  Before 
concluding,  he  adverted  to  the  report  that  her  majesty 
would  soon  be  married,  and  called  upon  the  nobility, 
if  they  regarded  the  safety  of  their  country,  to  pre- 
vent her  from  forming  an  alliance  with  a  Papist. 

"  Protestants  as  well  as  Papists,"  says  Knox's 
biographer,  "  were  offended  with  the  freedom  of  this 
sermon,  and  some  who  had  been  most  familiar  with 
the  preacher  now  shunned  his  company."  There 
must  have  been  something  more  than  usually  bitter 
and  unjust  in  a  discourse  which  produced  such  results. 
It  was  the  occasion  of  the  last  and  most  memorable 
interview  which  the  Reformer  had  with  Mary.  As 
soon  as  she  was  made  acquainted  with  the  manner 
in  which  he  had  attacked  her,  she  summoned  him  to 
her  presence.  He  was  accompanied  to  the  palace 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  161 

by  Lord  Ochiltree  and  some  other  gentlemen;  but 
John  Erskine  of  Dun,  a  man  of  a  mild  and  gentle 
temper,  was  the  only  one  allowed  to  enter  Mary's 
apartment  along  with  Knox.  The  Reformer  found 
his  queen  in  considerable  agitation.  She  told  him 
she  did  not  believe  any  prince  had  ever  submitted 
to  the  usage  she  had  experienced  from  him.  "I 
have  borne  with  you,"  she  said,  "  in  all  your  rigor- 
ous manner  of  speaking,  both  against  myself  and 
against  my  uncles :  yea,  I  have  sought  your  favour 
by  all  possible  means;  I  offered  unto  ye  presence 
and  audience  whensoever  it  pleased  ye  to  admonish 
me ;  and  yet  I  cannot  be  quit  of  you."  She  then 
passionately  burst  into  tears,  so  that,  as  Knox  says 
with  apparent  satisfaction,  they  could  scarce  "  get 
handkerchiefs  to  hold  her  eyes  dry ;  for  the  tears 
and  the  howling,  besides  womanly  weeping,  stayed 
her  speech."  The  preacher,  when  he  was  allowed 
to  speak,  complacently  assured  her  majesty,  that 
when  it  pleased  God  to  deliver  her  from  that  bondage 
of  darkness  and  error  wherein  she  had  been  nourished, 
she  would  not  find  the  liberty  of  his  tongue  offensive. 
He  added,  that  in  the  pulpit  he  was  not  his  own 
master,  but  the  servant  of  Him  who  commanded  that 
he  should  speak  plain,  and  flatter  no  flesh  upon  the 
face  of  the  earth.  Mary  told  him  that  she  did  not 
wish  for  his  flattery,  but  begged  to  know  what  rank 
he  held  in  the  kingdom  to  entitle  him  to  interfere 
with  her  marriage.  Knox,  whose  self-esteem  seldom 
forsook  him,  replied,  that  though  neither  an  earl,  lord, 
nor  baron,  he  was  a  profitable  and  useful  member  of 
the  commonwealth,  and  that  it  became  him  to  teach 
her  nobility,  who  were  too  partial  towards  her,  their 
duty.  "  Therefore,  madam,"  he  continued, "  to  your- 
self I  say  that  which  I  spake  in  public  :  whensoevei 
the  nobility  of  this  realm  shall  be  content,  and  con- 
sent that  you  be  subject  to  an  unlawful  husband, 
they  do  as  much  as  in  them  lies  to  remove  Christ, 
to  banish  the  truth,  to  betray  the  freedom  of  this 
31—11 


162  LIFE    OF    MARY 

realm,  and  perchance  shall  in  the  end  do  small  com- 
fort to  yourself."  Language  so  unwarranted  and 
uncalled-for  again  drew  tears  from  Mary,  and  Er- 
skine,  affected  by  her  grief,  attempted  to  soften  down 
its  harshness.  Knox  looked  on  with  an  unaltered 
countenance,  and  comparing  his  sovereign  to  his 
own  children,  when  he  saw  occasion  to  chastise  them, 
he  said,  "Madam,  in  God's  presence  I  speak.  I 
never  delighted  in  the  weeping  of  any  of  God's  crea- 
tures ;  yea,  I  can  scarcely  well  abide  the  tears  of 
mine  own  boys  when  mine  own  hands  correct  them. 
Much  less  can  I  rejoice  in  your  majesty's  weeping ; 
but,  seeing  I  have  offered  unto  ye  no  just  occasion 
to  be  offended,  but  have  spoken  the  truth  as  my  vo- 
cation craves  of  me,  I  must  sustain  your  majesty's 
tears  rather  than  dare  hurt  my  conscience,  or  betray 
the  commonwealth  by  silence."  That  he  might  not 
be  longer  under  the  necessity  of  sustaining  tears  he 
could  so  ill  abide,  Mary  commanded  him  to  leave 
her  presence,  and  wait  her  pleasure  in  the  adjoining 
room. 

Here  his  friends  who  were  expecting  him,  and  who 
had  overheard  some  of  the  conversation  which  had 
just  taken  place,  perceiving  how  much  he  had  excited 
the  queen's  just  indignation,  would  hardly  acknow- 
ledge him.  In  his  own  words,  "he  stood  as  one 
whom  men  had  never  seen."  His  confidence,  how- 
ever, did  not  forsake  him.  Observing  Mary's  maids 
of  honour  seated  together,  and  richly  dressed,  he 
took  the  opportunity,  that  he  might  not  lose  his  time, 
of  giving  them  also  some  gratuitous  advice.  "  Fail 
ladies,"  he  said,  with  a  smile,  "  how  pleasant  were 
this  life  of  yours,  if  it  should  ever  abide,  and  then  in 
the  end  that  we  might  pass  to  heaven  with  this  gear: 
but  fie  upon  that  knave,  Death,  that  will  come  whether 
we  will  or  not ;  and  when  he  has  laid  on  the  arrest, 
then  foul  worms  will  be  busy  with  this  flesh,  be  tf 
never  so  fair  and  so  tender;  and  the  silly  soul  I  fear 
shall  be  so  feeble,  that  it  can  neither  carry  with 


QUEEN  OF  SCOTS.  33 

it  gold,  garnishing,  targeting,  pearl,  nor  precious 
atones."  Shortly  afterward  Erskine,  who  had  some- 
what pacified  the  queen,  came  to  inform  him  that  he 
was  allowed  to  go  home.* 

As  the  queen  and  Knox  came  just  once  more  into 
public  contact,  and  that  only  a  few  weeks  after  the 
date  of  the  above  interview,  it  may  be  as  well  to 
erminate  our  interference  with  the  affairs  of  the 
Reformer  in  this  place.  The  queen  having  gone  to 
Stirling,  a  disturbance  took  place  one  Sunday  during 
her  absence  at  the  chapel  of  Holyrood.  Some  of 
her  domestics  and  Catholic  retainers  had  assembled 
for  the  celebration  of  worship  after  the  form  of  the 
Romish  Church.  The  Presbyterians  were  at  the  time 
dispensing  in  Edinburgh  the  Sacrament  of  the  Sup- 
per,  and  were  consequently  more  zealous  than  usual 
in  support  of  their  own  cause.  Hearing  of  the 
Catholic  practices  carried  on  at  Holyrood,  they  pro- 
ceeded thither  in  a  body,  burst  into  the  chapel,  and 
drove  Ihe  priests  from  the  altar.  To  quell  the  riot, 
the  comptroller  of  the  household  was  obliged  to  ob- 
tain the  assistance  of  the  magistrates,  and  even  then 
it  was  not  without  difficulty  that  the  godly  were  pre- 
vailed upon  to  disperse.  Two  of  their  number,  who 
had  been  more  violent  than  the  rest,  had  indictments 
served  upon  them  for  "  forethought  felony,  hame- 
sucken,  and  invasion  of  the  palace."  Knox  and  his 
friends  determined  to  save  these  two  men  from  pun- 
ishment, at  whatever  risk.  The  means  they  adopted 
to  effect  their  purpose  were  of  the  most  seditious 
kind.  It  was  determined  to  overawe  the  judges  by 
displaying  the  power  of  the  accused ;  and  with  this 
view  Knox  wrote  circular  letters  to  all  the  principal 
persons  of  his  persuasion,  requesting  them  to  crowd 
to  Edinburgh  on  the  day  of  trial.  He  thus  assumed 
to  himself  the  prerogative  of  calling  Mary's  subjects 
together,  in  direct  opposition  to  one  of  the  acts  of  the. 

*  Knoz's  History  of  I  he  Reformation,  p.  S32,  et  soq. 

T — \ 


161  LIFE  OF  MARY 

late  parliament.  When  these  letters  weie  shown  to 
the  queen  and  her  privy  council,  at  Stirling,  they 
were  unanimously  pronounced  treasonable,  and  Knox 
was  summoned  to  appear  before  a  convention  of  no- 
bles, to  be  held  in  Edinburgh  a  few  weeks  afterward, 
for  the  purpose  of  trying  him.  It  was,  however,  in- 
timated to  him,  that  as  the  queen  wished  to  be  lenient, 
if  he  would  acknowledge  nis  fault,  and  throw  him- 
self upon  her  mercy,  little  or  no  punishment  would 
be  awarded.  He  obstinately  refused  to  make  the 
slightest  concession,  and  in  consequence  nearly  lost 
the  friendship  of  Lord  Henries,  with  whom  he  had 
been  long  intimate. 

On  the  day  of  trial,  public  curiosity  was  much  ex- 
cited to  know  the  result.  The  lords  assembled  in 
the  council-chamber  at  Holyrood ;  the  queen  took  her 
seat  at  the  head  of  the  table,  and  Knox  stood  un- 
covered at  the  foot.  The  proceedings  were  opened 
by  Secretary  M aitland,  who  stated  the  grounds  of  the 
accusation,  and  explained  in  what  manner  the  law 
had  been  infringed.  Knox  made  a  declamatory  and 
very  unsatisfactory  reply.  The  substance  of  his  de- 
fence was,  that  there  were  lawful  and  unlawful  con- 
vocations of  the  people,  and  that,  as  the  act  of  parlia- 
ment could  not  apply  to  the  assembling  of  his  con- 
gregation every  Sunday,  neither  could  he  be  held  to 
have  transgressed  it  by  writing  letters  to  the  heads 
of  his  church,  calling  them  together  upon  a  matter 
of  vital  importance  to  their  religion.  The  sophistry 
of  this  reasoning  was  easily  seen  through.  It  was 
answered  for  the  queen,  that  his  sermons  were  sanc- 
tioned by  government,  and  that  their  tendency  was 
supposed  to  be  peaceable ;  but  that  the  direct  pur 
pose  of  the  letters  in  question  was  to  exasperate  the 
minds  of  the  lieges.  One  passage  in  particular  was 
read,  in  which  Knox  said,  alluding  to  the  two  per- 
sons who  were  indicted,  "  This  fearful  summons  is 
directed  against  them,  to  make,  no  doubt,  a  prepara- 
tive on  a  few,  that  a  door  may  be  opened  to  execute 


QTJEEN  OF  SCOTS.  165 

cruelty  upon  a  greater  multitude."  "  Is  it  not  trea- 
son, ray  lords,"  said  Mary,  "  to  accuse  a  prince  of 
cruelty  ?  I  think  there  be  acts  of  parliament  against 
such  whisperers."  Knox  endeavoured  to  evade  the 
force  of  this  remark  by  a  very  evident  quibble. 
"  Madam,"  he  said,  "  cast  up  when  you  list  the  acts 
of  your  parliament,  I  have  offended  nothing  against 
them ;  for  I  accuse  not  in  my  letter  your  grace,  nor 
yet  your  nature,  o£  cruelty.  But  I  affirm  yet  again, 
that  the  pestilent  Papists  who  have  inflamed  your 
grace  against  those  poor  men  at  this  present  are 
the  sons  of  the  Devil,  and  therefore  must  obey 
the  desires  of  their  father,  who  has  been  a  liar  and  a 
manslayer  from  the  beginning."  More  words  were 
spoken  on  both  sides,  but  nothing  further  was  ad- 
vanced that  bore  directly  upon  the  subject  in  hand. 
It  is  worthy  of  notice,  however,  that  Knox,  in  the 
tourse  of  his  defence,  actually  forgot  himself  so  far 
as  to  institute  a  comparison  between  Mary  and  the 
Roman  Nero.  At  length,  having  been  fully  heard, 
he  was  ordered  to  retire,  and  after  some  discussion, 
the  vote  of  guilty  or  not  guilty  was  put  to  the  nobles. 
There  being  a  considerable  preponderance  of  Protest- 
ant lords  at  the  meeting,  it  was  carried  that  Knox 
had  not  committed  any  breach  of  the  laws.  He 
evinces  his  triumph  on  this  occasion  by  remarking 
spitefully  in  his  history,  "That  night  was  neither 
dancing  nor  fiddling  in  the  court ;  for  madam  was 
disappointed  of  her  purpose,  whilk  was  to  have  had 
John  Knox  in  her  will  by  vote  of  her  nobility." 
His  acquittal  certainly  disappointed  Mary;  but  it 
only  served  to  convince  her  more  and  more  that 
bigotry  and  justice  were  incompatible. 

Before  concluding  this  chapter,  one  of  the  pecu- 
liarities of  the  Scottish  Reformer's  mind  deserves  to 
be  noticed.  That  h  -  was  a  strong  thinker  and  a 
bold  man  cannot  be  d  -nied ;  yet,  as  has  been  before 
remarked,  he  himself  *onfesses  that  he  was  much 
addicted  to  superstitio.  -  This  weakness,  if  real. 


166  LIFE  OF  MARY 

lowers  him  considerably  in  the  scale  of  intellect  j 
and  if  affected,  proves  that  amid  all  the  pretensions 
of  his  new  doctrines,  he  still  retained  a  taint  of 
oriestly  craft.  Alluding  to  the  year  of  which  we 
speak  (1563),  he  has  incorporated  into  his  History  the 
following  remarkable  passage.  "  God  from  heaven, 
and  upon  the  face  of  the  earth,  gave  declaration  that 
he  was  offended  at  the  iniquity  that  was  committed 
even  within  this  realm ;  for  upon  the  20th  day  of 
January  there  fell  wet  in  great  abundance,  which  in 
the  falling  freezed  so  vehemently,  that  the  earth  was 
but  one  sheet  of  ice.  The  fowls  both  great  and  small 
freezed,  and  could  not  fly;  many  died,  and  some 
were  taken  and  laid  before  the  fire,  that  their  feathers 
might  resolve ;  and  in  that  same  month  the  sea  stood 
still,  as  was  clearly  observed,  and  neither  ebbed  nor 
flowed  the  space  of  twenty-four  hours.  In  the  month 
of  February,  the  fifteenth  and  eighteenth  days  thereof, 
were  seen  in  the  firmament  battles  arrayed,  spears 
and  other  weapons,  and  as  it  had  been  the  joining  of 
two  armies.  These  things  were  not  only  observed, 
but  also  spoken  and  constantly  affirmed  by  men  of 
Judgment  and  credit.  But  the  queen  and  our  court 
made  merry."*  It  would  thus  appear,  that  Knox's 
mind  was  either  a  strange  compound  of  strength  and 
imbecility,  courage  and  fear,  sound  sense  and  super- 
stition, or  that  duplicity  was  more  a  part  of  his  char* 
acter  than  is  generally  supposed. 


onvvx  <u(  SCOTS.  16? 


CHAPTER  XL 

The  domestic  Life  of  Mary,  urith  some  Anecdotes  of  Elizabeth 

THE  summer  and  autumn  of  the  year  1563  were 
spent  by  Mary  in  making  various  excursions  through 
the  country.  She  had  not  yet  visited  the  west  and 
south-west  of  Scotland.  Shortly  after  the  rising  of 
parliament  she  set  out  for  Glasgow,  and  from  thence 
went  on  to  Dumbarton  and  Loch  Lomond.  In  the 
neighbourhood  of  its  romantic  scenery  she  spent 
some  days,  and  then  crossed  over  to  Inverary,  where 
she  visited  her  natural  sister,  the  Countess  of  Ar- 
gyle,  to  whom  she  was  much  attached.  Upon  leav 
ing  Inverary,  she  passed  over  the  Argyleshire  hills, 
and  came  down  upon  the  Clyde  at  Dunoon.  Follow 
ing  the  course  of  the  river,  she  next  visited  Toward 
Castle,  near  the  entrance  of  the  bay  of  Rothesay. 
Here  she  crossed  the  Frith  of  Clyde,  and  landing  ir 
Ayrshire,  spent  several  weeks  in  this  Arcadian  dis- 
trict of  Scotland.  She  then  went  into  Galloway,  and 
before  her  return  to  Edinburgh  visited  Dumfries  and 
other  towns  in  the  south.  Her  next  excursion  was 
to  Stirling,  Callander,  and  Dumblane,  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  which  places  she  remained  till  late  in  the 
season.  The  earlier  part  of  1564  she  spent  at 
Perth,  Falkland,  and  St.  Andrews ;  and  in  the  au- 
tumn of  this  year  she  again  went  as  far  north  as 
Inverness,  and  from  thence  into  Ross-shire.  "  The 
object  of  that  distant  journey,"  says  Chalmers,  "was 
not  then  known,  and  cannot  be  completely  ascer 
tained."  "  She  repassed  through  the  country  of  the 
Gordons,  which  had  once  been  held  out  as  so  fright- 
ful. She  remained  a  night  at  Gartley,  where  there 
is  still  a  ruined  castle,  and  the  parish  whereof 


168  Lira    or    MARY 

belongs  even  HOW  to  the  Duke  of  Gordon.  She  rode 
forward  to  Aberdeen,  without  seeing  Huntly's  ghost, 
and  went  thence  to  Dunnottar,  where  she  remained  a 
night,  and  thence,  proceeding  along  the  coast-road, 
to  Dundee.  She  then  crossed  the  Tay  into  Fife,  and 
diverging  for  a  few  days  to  St.  Andrews,  she  re- 
turned to  Edinburgh  about  the  26th  of  September 
after  an  absence  of  two  months." 

As  we  are  speedily  to  enter  upon  a  new  and  more 
bustling,  though  not  a  happier  period  of  Mary's  life, 
we  should  wish  to  avail  ourselves  of  the  present  op- 
portunity to  convey  to  the  reader  some  notion  of  hei 
domestic  habits  and  amusements,  and  how,  when  left 
to  herself,  she  best  liked  to  fill  up  her  time.  The  affa- 
bility and  gentleness  of  her  manners  had  endeared 
her  even  more  than  her  personal  attractions  to  all 
who  frequented  her  court.  She  had  succeeded,  by 
the  firm  moderation  of  her  measures,  not  only  in 
giving  a  more  than  ordinary  degree  of  popularity  to 
her  government,  but,  by  the  polished  amenity  of  her 
bearing,  her  powers  of  conversation,  and  varied 
accomplishments,  she  had  imparted  to  the  court  of 
Holyrood  a  refinement  and  elegance  we  in  vain  look 
for  under  the  reign  of  any  of  her  predecessors. 
There  is  a  vast  difference  between  an  over-degree 
of  luxuriousness  and  a  due  attention  to  the  graces. 
Under  the  influence  of  the  former,  a  nation  becomes 
effeminate,  and  addicted  to  every  species  of  petty 
vice ;  under  that  of  the  latter,  its  characteristic  vir- 
tues are  called  only  more  efficiently  into  action. 
The  tree  is  noi  the  less  valuable  divested  of  its  rug- 
ged bark.  It  is  to  the  example  set  by  Mary  that  we 
are  to  attribute,  in  a  great  degree,  that  improvement 
in  the  manners  and  feelings  of  Scotch  society  which 
speedily  placed  this  country  more  upon  a  par  with  the 
rest  of  civilized  Europe.  Had  the  precepts  of  John 
Knox  been  strictly  followed,  the  blue  bonnets  of  a 
rigid,  unbending  Presbyterianism  would  probably  to 
this  day  have  decorated  the  heads  of  two-thirds  of 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  169 

the  population.  A  scarcity  which  prevailed  about 
the  commencement  of  the  year  1564  drew  from  this 
stern  Reformer  the  assertion,  that "  the  riotous  feast- 
ing and  excessive  banqueting  used  in  city  and  coun- 
try, wheresoever  the  profane  court  repaired,  pro- 
voked God  to  strike  the  staff  of  bread,  and  to  give 
his  maledictions  upon  the  fruits  of  the  earth."  IVfary 
judged  differently  of  the  effects  produced  by  these 
"profane  banquetings,"  and  so  will  the  political 
economists  of  more  modern  times. 

It  was  only  after  the  performance  of  duties  of  a 
severer  kind  that  Mary  indulged  in  recreation.  She 
sat  some  hours  regularly  every  day  with  her  privy 
council ;  and,  with  her  work-table  beside  her  and 
her  needle  in  her  hand,  she  heard  and  offered  opin- 
ions upon  the  various  affairs  of  state.  To  the  pooi 
of  every  description  she  was,  like  her  mother,  ex- 
ceedingly attentive;  and  she  herself  benevolently 
superintended  the  education  of  a  number  of  poor  chil- 
dren. To  direct  and  distribute  her  charities,  two 
ecclesiastics  were  appointed  her  ehemosynars ;  and 
they,  under  her  authority,  obtained  money  from  the 
treasurer  in  all  cases  of  necessity.  She  gave  an 
annual  salary  also  to  an  advocate  for  the  poor,  who 
conducted  the  causes  of  such  as  were  unable  to  bear 
the  expenses  of  a  lawsuit ;  and  to  secure  proper 
attention  to  these  causes,  she  not  unfrequently  took 
her  seat  upon  the  bench  when  they  came  to  be  heard. 
Her  studies  were  extensive  and  regular.  She  was 
well  versed  in  history,  of  which  she  read  a  great  deal. 
Every  day  after  dinner  she  devoted  an  hour  or  two 
to  the  perusal  of  some  Latin  classic,  particularly 
Livy,  under  the  superintendence  of  George  Bucha- 
nan. In  reward  for  his  services,  she  gave  him  the 
revenue  of  the  abbey  of  Crossraguel,  in  Ayrshire, 
worth  about  500/.  a  year.  This  grant  was  probably 
made  at  the  request  of  the  Earl  of  Murray,  who  was 
Buchanan's  patron,  and  to  whom  he  always  con- 
sidered himself  more  indebted  than  to  the  queen. 


170  LIFE    OF    MART 

Buchanan,  whose  talents  for  controversial  writing  it 
was  foreseen  might  be  useful,  had  also  a  pension  of 
100J.  a  year  from  Elizabeth.  Mary  had  a  competent 
knowledge  of  astronomy  and  geography;  and  her 
library  in  the  palace  of  Holyrpod  contained,  among 
other  things,  two  globes,  which  were  at  that  time 
considered  curiosities  in  Scotland,  «*  the  ane  of  the 
heavin,  and  the  uther  of  the  earth.**  She  had,  be- 
sides, several  maps,  and  a  few  pictures — in  particular 
portraits  of  her  father,  her  mother,  her  husband  Fran 
cis  II.,  and  Montmorency.  Being  fond  of  all  sorts 
of  exercises,  she  frequently  received  ambassadors 
and  others  to  whom  she  gave  audience  in  the  palace 
gardens.  She  had  two  of  these,  the  southern  and 
the  northern ;  and  not  contented  with  their  more  lim- 
ited range,  shfe  often  extended  her  walk  through  the 
king's  park,  and  sometimes  even  along  the  brow  of 
Salisbury  Crags  or  Arthur  Seat.  She  had  gardens 
and  parks  attached  to  all  her  principal  residences 
throughout  Scotland, — at  Linlithgow,  at  Stirling,  at 
Falkland,  at  Perth,  and  at  St.  Andrews.  It  was  in 
one  of  her  gardens  at  Holyrood  that  she  planted  a 
sycamore  she  had  brought  with  her  from  France,  and 
which,  becoming  in  time  a  large  and  valuable  tree, 
was  an  object  of  curiosity  and  admiration  even  in 
our  own  day.  It  was  blown  down  only  about  ten 
vears  ago,  and  its  wood  was  eagerly  sought  after  to 
be  made  into  trinkets  and  costly  relics. 

To  her  female  followers  and  friends  Mary  was  evei 
attentive  and  kind.  For  her  four  Maries,  her  com- 
panions from  infancy,  she  retained  her  affection  during 
all  the  vicissitudes  of  her  fortune.  At  the  period  of 
which  we  write,  she  still  enjoyed  the  society  of  all 
of  them ;  but  Mary  Fleming  afterward  became  the 
wife  of  Secretary  Maitland,  and  Mary  Livingstone 
of  Lord  Semple.  Mary  Beaton  and  Mary  Seaton 
remained  unmarried.  Madame  de  Pinguillon,  who 
had  come  with  the  queen  from  France,  and  to  whom 
she  was  extremely  partial,  continued  in  her  service 


QUEEN   OF   SCOTS.  171 

for  several  years,  her  husband  being  appointed  mas- 
ter of  the  household.  They  both  returned  to  then 
own  country  when  the  troubles  in  Scotland  began. 
There  were  many  other  ladies  belonging  to  the  court, 
whose  names  possess  no  interest  because  uncon- 
nected with  any  of  the  events  of  history. 

Mary's  establishment  was  by  no  means  expensive 
or  extraordinary.  She  does  not  appear  to  have  had 
so  great  a  variety  of  dresses  as  Elizabeth,  yet  she 
was  not  ill  provided  either.  Her  common  wearing 
gowns,  as  long  as  she  continued  in  mourning,  which 
was  till  the  day  of  her  second  marriage,  were  made 
either  of  camlet  or  damis,  or  serge  of  Florence,  bor- 
dered with  black  velvet.  Her  riding  habits  were 
mostly  of  serge  of  Florence,  stiffened  in  the.  neck  and 
body  with  buckram,  and  trimmed  with  lace  and  ribands. 
In  the  matter  of  shoes  and  stockings  she  seems  tc 
have  been  remarkably  well  supplied.  She  had  thirty 
six  pair  of  velvet  shoes,  laced  with  gold  and  silver 
she  had  ten  pair  of  hose,  woven  of  gold,  silver,  and 
silk,  and  three  pair  woven  of  worsted  of  Guernsey. 
Silk  stockings  were  then  a  rarity.  The  first  pair 
worn  in  England  were  sent  as  a  present  from  France 
to  Elizabeth.  Six  pair  of  gloves  of  worsted  of  Guern- 
sey are  also  mentioned  in  the  catalogue,  still  existing, 
of  Mary's  wardrobe.  She  was  fond  of  tapestry,  and 
had  the  walls  of  her  chambers  hung  with  the  richest 
specimens  of  it  she  could  bring  from  France.  She 
had  not  much  plate,  but  she  had  a  profusion  of  rare 
and  valuable  jewels.  Her  cloth  of  gold,  her  Turkey 
carpets,  her  beds  and  coverlids,  her  tablecloths,  her 
crystal,  her  chairs  and  footstools,  covered  with  vel- 
vet and  garnished  with  fringes,  were  all  celebrated 
in  the  gossiping  chronicles  of  the  day. 

The  Scottish  queen's  amusements  were  varied,  but 
not  in  general  sedentary.  She  was,  however,  a  chess- 
player, and  anxious  to  make  herself  a  mistress  of  that 
most  intellectual  of  all  games.  Archery  was  one  of 
her  favourite  out-of-door  pastimes,  and  she  indulged 
!•— O 


172  LIFE    OF    MART 

in  it  frequently  in  her  gardens  at  Holyrood.  Sha 
revived  the  ancient  chivalric  exercise  of  riding  at  the 
ring,  making  her  nobles  contend  against  each  other; 
and  crowds  frequently  collected  on  the  sands  at  Leith 
to  witness  their  trials  of  skill.  Tournaments  Mary 
did  not  so  much  like,  because  they  tempted  the  cou- 
rageous to  what  she  thought  unnecessary  danger ; 
and  when  obliged  to  be  present  atthem  in  France,  it 
was  remarked  that  her  superior  delicacy  of  feeling 
always  marred  her  enjoyment,  from  the  anticipation 
that  they  might  end  in  bloodshed.  These  sentiments 
were  probably  strengthened  by  the  unfortunate  man- 
ner in  which  Henry  II.  met  his  death.  The  now 
almost  obsolete,  but  then  fashionable  and  healthful 
amusement  of  hawking  was  much  esteemed  by  Mary. 
Her  attachment  to  it  was  hereditary,  for  both  her 
father  and  grandfather  were  passionately  fond  of  it 
James  V.  kept  a  master-falconer,  who  had  seven 
others  under  him.  In  1562  hawks  of  an  approved 
kind  were  brought  for  Mary  from  Orkney ;  and  in  the 
sam^  year  she  sent  a  present  of  some  of  them  to 
Elizabeth.  To  riding  and  hunting,  as  has  been 
already  seen,  Mary  had  long  been  partial. 

Within  doors  Mary  found  an  innocent  gratification 
in  dancing,  maskings,  and  music.  She  was  herself, 
as  has  been  seen,  a  most  graceful  dance*,  moving,  ac- 
cording to  Melville, "  not  so  high,  nor  so  disposedly" 
as  Elizabeth ;  by  which  we  may  understand  that  she 
danced,  as  they  who  have  beeu  taught  in  France 
usually  do,  with  greater  ease  and  self-possession,  or, 
in  other  words,  with  less  effort — less  consciousness 
that  she  was  overcoming  a  difficulty  in  keeping  time, 
and  executing  the  steps  and  evolutions  of  the  dance. 
The  masks  and  mummeries  which  were  occasion- 
ally got  up  were  novelties  in  Scotland,  and  excited 
the  anger  of  the  Reformers,  though  it  is  difficult  to 
tell  why.  Randolph,  describing  a  feast  at  which  he 
was  present  in  1564,  mentions,  that  at  the  first  course 
some  one  representing  Cupid  made  his  appearanre. 


UUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  173 

and  sung  with  a  chorus  some  Italian  verses;  at  the 
second, "  a  fair  young  maid"  sung  a  few  Latin  verses ; 
and  at  the  third,  a  figure  dressed  as  Time  concluded 
the  mummery  with  some  wholesome  piece  of  mo- 
rality. Upon  other  occasions,  several  of  which  will 
be  alluded  to  afterward,  masks  were  performed 
upon  a  more  extensive  scale.  These  amusements 
were  seldom  or  never  allowed  to  degenerate  into  dis« 
sipation,  by  being  protracted  to  untimely  hours. 
Mary  was  always  up  before  eight  o'clock ;  she  supped 
at  seven,  and  was  seldom  out  of  bed  after  ten.* 

The  queen's  taste  in  music  had  been  cultivated  from 
her  earliest  years.  When  almost  an  infant  she  nad 
minstrels  attached  to  her  establishment.  On  her 
return  to  Scotland  she  had  a  small  band  of  about  a 
dozen  musicians,  vocal  and  instrumental,  whom 
she  kept  always  near  her  person.  Five  of  these 
were  violars,  or  players  on  the  viol  ;f  three  of  them 
were  players  on  the  lute ;  one  or  two  of  them  were 
organists,  but  the  organs  in  the  chapels  at  Stirling 
and  Holyrood  were  the  only  ones  which  had  been 
saved  from  the  fury  of  the  Reformers ;  and  the  rest 
were  singers,  who  also  acted  as  chalmer-chields,  or 
valets-de-chambre.  Mary  could  herself  play  upon 
the  lute  and  virginals,  and  loved  to  hear  concerted 
music  upon  all  occasions.  She  even  introduced  into 
her  religious  worship  a  military  band,  in  aid  of  the 
oigan,  consisting  of  trumpet,  drum,  fife,  bagpipe,  and 
tabor. 

It  was  as  one  skilled  in  music  that  David  Rizzio 
first  recommended  himself  to  Mary.  He  came  to 
Edinburgh  towards  the  end  of  the  year  15fil,  in  the 
train  of  the  ambassador  from  Savoy.  He  was  a 
Piedmontese  by  birth,  and  had  received  a  good  edu- 

*  Keith,  p.  206  and  246 ;  Chalmers,  vol.  i.  p.  65,  et  seq. ;  Whittake* 
Tol.  iii.  p.  334  ;  Miss  Benger,  vol.  ii.  p.  145,  et  seq. 

t  These  violars  were  all  Scotchmen,  and  two  of  them  were  of  the 
name  of  Dow, — "  a  name,"  says  Chalmers,  "  consecrated  to  music." 
Having  never  heard  of  this  consecration  before,  we  think  it  not  unlikely 
that  Chalmers  has  mistaken  Dow  for  Gow.  Vide  Chalmers,  vol.  ii.  p.  72 


174  LIFE    OF    MARY 

cation.  His  father  was  a  respectable  professional 
musician  in  Turin,  who,  having  a  large  family,  had 
sent  his  two  sons,  David  and  Joseph,  to  push  their 
own  way  in  Nice  at  the  court  of  the  Duke  of  Savoy 
They  were  both  noticed  at  that  court,  and  were  taken 
into  the  service  of  the  Duke  of  Moretto,  the  ambas- 
sador already  mentioned.  The  knowledge  which 
David  Rizzio  possessed  of  music,  says  a  French 
writer,  was  the  least  of  his  talents :  he  had  a  polished 
and  ready  wit,  a  lively  imagination,  full  of  pleasant 
fancies,  soft  and  winning  manners,  abundance  of  cour- 
age, and  still  more  assurance.  "  He  was,"  says  Mel- 
ville, "  a  merry  fellow,  and  a  guid  musician."  He 
was,  moreover,  abundantly  ugly,  and  past  the  meri- 
dian of  life,  as  attested  by  all  contemporary  writers 
of  any  authority.  His  brother  Joseph  is  scarcely 
mentioned  in  history,  though  it  appears  that  he  also 
attached  himself  to  Mary's  court.  At  the  time  of 
David's  arrival,  the  queen's  three  pages,  or  songsters. 
who  used  to  sing  trios  for  her,  wanted  a  fourth  as  a 
bass.  Rizzio  was  recommended,  and  he  received  the 
appointment,  together  with  a  salary  of  80/.  Being 
not  only  by  far  the  most  scientific  musician  in  the 
queen's  household,  but  likewise  well  acquainted  both 
with  French  and  Italian,  Rizzio  contrived  to  make 
himself  generally  useful.  In  1564  he  was  appointed 
Mary's  French  secretary,  and  in  this  situation  he  con- 
tinued till  his  death.* 

An  amusing  peep  into  the  interior  of  both  the  Scots 
and  English  courts,  afforded  by  Sir  James  Melville, 
will  form  an  appropriate  conclusion  to  this  chapter. 
Sir  James  returned  from  the  Continent  to  Scotland  in 
May,  1564.  He  found  the  queen  at  St.  Johns  tone ; 
and  she,  aware  of  his  fidelity,  requested  him  to  give 
up  thoughts  of  going  back  to  France,  where  he  had 
been  promised  preferment.  "  She  was  so  affable," 

*  Jebb,  Tol.  ii.  p.  202;  Chalmers,  vol.  i.  p.  95,  and  TO!,  il.  p.  138; 
Tytler's  Inquiry,  rol.  ii.  p.  4,  et  seq. ;  Histoire  de  Marie  Stnart,  p.  218 
and  Laing  vol.  i.  p.  10. 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  175 

says  he,  "so  gracious  and  discreet,  that  she  won 
great  estimation,  and  the  hearts  of  many,  both  in  Eng- 
land and  Scotland,  and  mine  among  the  rest ;  so  that 
I  thought  her  more  worthy  to  be  served  for  little  profit 
than  any  other  prince  in  Europe  for  great  commodity." 
But  Mary  had  too  proud  a  spirit  to  submit  to  be 
served  for  nothing.  She  was  by  nature  liberal  almost 
to  a  fault.  Out  of  her  French  dowry  she  settled 
upon  Melville  a  pension  of  a  thousand  marks,  and  in 
addition,  she  begged  him  to  accept  of  the  heritage  of 
the  lands  of  Auchtermuchty,  near  Falkland.  These 
he  refused,  as  he  was  unwilling  that  she  should  dis- 
member, on  his  account,  her  own  personal  property  • 
but  they  were  subsequently  given  to  some  one  less 
scrupulous.  Sir  James  was  soon  afterward  sent  by 
Mary  on  an  embassy  to  Elizabeth,  principally  for  the 
sake  of  expediting  some  matters  connected  with 
Mary's  intended  matrimonial  arrangements. 

The  morning  after  his  arrival  in  London,  he  was 
admitted  to  an  audience  by  Elizabeth,  whom  he  found 
pacing  in  an  alley  in  her  garden.  The  business 
upon  which  he  came  being  arranged  satisfactorily, 
Melville  was  favourably  and  familiarly  treated  by  the 
English  queen.  He  remained  at  her  court  nearly  a 
fortnight,  and  conversed  with  her  majesty  every  day, 
sometimes  thrice  on  the  same  day.  Sir  James,  who 
was  a  shrewd  observer,  had  thus  an  opportunity  of 
remarking  the  many  weaknesses  and  vanities  which 
characterized  Elizabeth.  In  allusion  to  her  extreme 
love  of  power,  he  ventured  to  say  to  her,  when  she 
informed  him  she  never  intended  to  marry,  "  Madam, 
you  need  not  tell  me  that;  I  know  your  stately 
stomach.  You  think  if  you  were  married  you  would 
be  but  queen  of  England ;  and  now  you  are  king  and 
queen  both ;  you  may  not  suffer  a  commander." 
Elizabeth  was  fortunately  not  offended  at  this  free- 
dom. She  took  Sir  James,  upon  one  occasion,  into 
her  bedchamber  and  opened  a  little  case  in  which 
were  several  miniature  pictures.  The  pretence  was 


176  LIFE       /   MARY 

to  show  him  a  likeness  of  Mary,  but  her  real  object  was 
that  he  should  observe  in  her  possession  a  miniature 
of  her  favourite,  the  Earl  of  Leicester,  upon  which  she 
had  written  with  her  own  hand, "  My  lord's  picture." 
When  Melville  made  this  discovery,  Elizabeth  af 
fected  a  little  amiable  confusion.  "  I  held  the  can- 
dle," says  Sir  James, "  and  pressed  to  see  my  lord's 
picture ;  albeit  she  was  loath  to  let  me  see  it ;  at  length 
I  by  importunity  obtained  a  sight  thereof,  and  asked 
the  same  to  carry  home  with  me  unto  the  queen ; 
which  she  refused,  alleging  she  had  but  that  one  of 
his."  At  another  time  Elizabeth  talked  with  Sir 
James  of  the  different  costumes  of  different  coun- 
tries. She  told  him  she  had  dresses  of  many  sorts ; 
and  she  appeared  in  a  new  one  every  day  during  hi? 
continuance  at  court.  Sometimes  she  dressed  after 
the  English,  sometimes  after  the  French,  and  some- 
times after  the  Italian  fashion.  She  asked  Sir  James 
which  he  thought  became  her  best.  He  said  the 
Italian,  "  whilk  pleasit  her  weel ;  for  she  delighted 
to  show  her  golden-coloured  hair,  wearing  a  kell  and 
bonnet  as  they  do  in  Italy.  Her  hair  was  redder  thar 
yellow,  and  apparently  of  nature."  Elizabeth  her- 
self seems  to  have  been  quite  contented  with  its  hue, 
for  she  very  complacently  asked  Sir  James  whether 
she  or  Mary  had  the  finer  hair  ?  Sir  James  having 
replied  as  politely  as  possible,  she  proceeded  to  in- 
quire which  he  considered  the  more  beautiful  ?  The 
ambassador  quaintly  answered  that  the  beauty  of 
either  was  not  her  worst  fault.  This  evasion  would 
not  serve,  though  Melville,  for  many  sufficient  rea- 
sons, was  unwilling  to  say  any  thing  more  definite. 
He  told  her  that  she  was  the  fairest  queen  in  Eng- 
land, and  Mary  the  fairest  in  Scotland.  Still  this  was 
not  enough.  Sir  James  ventured,  therefore,  one  step 
further.  "  They  were  baith,"  he  said,  "  the  fairest 
ladies  of  their  courts,  and  that  the  Queen  of  England 
was  whiter,  but  our  queen  was  very  lusome."  Eliza- 
beth next  asked  which  of  them  was  of  highest  stature? 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  177 

Sir  James  told  her  the  Queen  of  Scots.  "  Then  she 
said  the  queen  was  over-heigh,  and  that  herself  was 
neither  over-heigh  nor  over-laigh.  Then  she  askit 
what  kind  of  exercises  she  used.  I  said,  that  as  I 
was  dispatchit  out  of  Scotland,  the  queen  was  but 
new  come  back  from  the  Highland  hunting ;  and  that 
when  she  had  leisure  frae  the  affairs  of  her  country, 
she  read  upon  guid  buiks  the  histories  of  divers  coun- 
tries ;  and  sometimes  would  play  upon  the  lute  and 
virginals.  She  spearit  gin  she  played  weel ;  I  said 
raisonably  for  a  queen." 

This  account  of  Mary's  accomplishments  piqued 
Elizabeth's  vanity,  and  determined  her  to  give  Mel- 
ville some  display  of  her  own.  Accordingly,  next 
day  one  of  the  lords  in  waiting  took  him  to  a  quiet 
gallery,  where,  as  if  by  chance,  he  might  hear  the 
queen  play  upon  the  virginals.  After  listening  a 
little,  Melville  perceived  well  enough  that  he  might 
take  the  liberty  of  entering  the  chamber  whence  the 
music  came.  Elizabeth  coquettishly  left  off  as  soon 
as  she  saw  him,  and  coming  forward,  tapped  him  with 
her  hand  and  affected  to  feel  ashamed  of  being  caught, 
declaring  that  she  never  played  before  company,  but 
only  when  alone,  to  keep  off  melancholy.  Melville 
made  her  a  flattering  speech,  protesting  that  the  music 
he  had  heard  was  of  so  exquisite  a  kind,  that  it  had 
irresistibly  drawn  him  into  the  room.  Elizabeth, 
who  does  not  seem  to  have  thought  as  people  are 
usually  supposed  to  do  in  polite  society,  that  "  com- 
parisons are  odious,"  could  not  rest  satisfied  without 
putting,  as  usual,  the  question  whether  Mary  or  she 
played  best  ?  Melville  gave  the  English  queen  the 
palm.  Being  now  in  good-humour,  she  resolved  that 
Sir  James  should  have  a  specimen  of  her  learning, 
which  it  was  well  known  degenerated  too  much  into 
pedantry.  She  praised  his  French,  asking  if  he  could 
also  speak  Italian,  which  she  said  she  herself  spoke 
reasonably  well.  She  spoke  to  him  also  in  Dutch ; 
but  Sir  James  says  it  was  not  good.  Afterward,  sh*> 
31—12 


178  LIFE     OF    MART 

insisted  upon  his  seeing  her  dance ;  and  when  her 
performance  was  over,  she  put  the  old  question, 
whether  she  or  Mary  danced  best.  Melville  answered, 
"The  queen  dancit  not  so  high  and  disposedly  as 
she  did."  Melville  returned  to  Scotland,  "  convinced 
in  his  judgment,"  as  he  says,  "  that  in  Elizabeth's 
conduct  there  was  neither  plain-dealing  nor  uprigh 
meaning,  but  great  dissimulation,  emulation,  and  fea 
that  Mary's  princely  qualities  should  too  soon  chast 
her  out,  and  displace  her  from  the  kingdom." 

Sir  James,  by  way  of  contrast,  concludes  this  sub- 
ject with  the  following  interesting  account  of  Mary's 
well-won  popularity,  prudence,  modesty,  and  good 
sense.  "  The  queen's  majesty,  as  I  have  said,  after 
her  returning  out  of  France  to  Scotland,  behaved 
herself  so  princely,  so  honourably  and  discreetly, 
that  her  reputation  spread  in  all  countries ;  and  she 
was  determined,  and  also  inclined  to  continue  in  that 
kind  of  comeliness  even  to  the  end  of  her  life,  de- 
siring to  hold  none  in  her  company  but  such  as  were 
of  the  best  quality  and  conversation,  abhorring  all 
vices  and  vicious  persons,  whether  they  were  men  or 
women ;  and  she  requested  me  to  assist  her  in  giving 
her  my  good  counsel  how  s>he  might  use  the  meetest 
means  to  advance  her  honest  intention;  and  in  case 
she,  being  yet  young,  might  forget  herself  in  any 
unseemly  gesture  or  behaviour,  that  I  would  warn 
her  thereof  with  my  admonition,  to  forbear  and  reform 
the  same ;  which  commission  I  refused  altogether, 
saying,  that  her  virtuous  actions,  her  natural  judg- 
ment, and  the  great  experience  she  had  learned  in 
the  company  of  so  many  notable  princes  in  the  court 
of  France,  had  instructed  her  so  well,  and  made  her 
so  able,  as  to  be  an  example  to  all  her  subjects  and 
servants.  But  she  would  not  have  it  so,  but  said  she 
knew  that  she  had  committed  divers  errors  upon  no 
evil  meaning,  for  lack  of  the  admonition  of  loving 
friends,  because  that  the  most  part  of  courtiers  com- 
monly flatter  princes,  to  win  their  favour,  and  wiU 


QUEEN    OF   SCOTS  17i> 

not  tell  them  the  verity,  fearing  to  tine  their  favour ; 
and  therefore  she  adjured  me  and  commanded  me  to 
accept  that  charge,  which  I  said  was  a  ruinous  com- 
mission, willing  her  to  lay  that  burden  upon  her  bro- 
ther, my  Lord  of  Murray,  and  the  Secretary  Leth- 
ington ;  but  she  said  that  she  would  not  take  it  in  so 
good  a  part  of  them  as  of  me.  I  said  I  feared  it 
would  cause  me,  with  time,  to  tine  her  favour ;  but 
she  said  it  appeared  I  had  an  evil  opinion  of  her  con- 
stancy and  discretion,  which  opinion  she  doubted 
not  but  I  would  alter,  after  that  I  had  essayed  the 
occupation  of  that  friendly  and  familiar  charge. 
In  the  mean  time,  she  made  me  familiar  with  all  her 
most  urgent  affairs ;  but  chiefly  in  her  dealing  with 
any  foreign  nation.  She  showed  unto  me  all  her 
letters,  and  them  that  she  received  from  other  princes ; 
and  willed  me  to  write  unto  such  princes  as  I  had 
acquaintance  of,  and  to  some  of  their  counsellors ; 
wherein  I  forgot  not  to  set  out  her  virtues,  and  would 
show  her  again  their  answers,  and  such  occurrences 
as  passed  at  the  time  between  countries,  to  her  great 
contentment.  For  she  was  of  a  quick  spirit,  and 
anxious  to  know  and  to  get  intelligence  of  the  state 
of  other  countries;  and  would  be  sometimes  sad 
when  she  was  solitary,  and  glad  of  the  company  of 
them  that  had  travelled  in  foreign  parts."* 

This  testimony  in  Mary's  favour  from  a  contempo- 
rary author  of  so  much  respectability  is  worth  vol- 
umes of  ordinary  panegyric. 

*  Melville's  Memoirs,  p.  110-30.  The  French  historian  Castelnau 
•peaics  in  exactly  similar  terms.  When  sent  by  the  King  of  France  as 
ambassador  to  Mary,  ••  I  found  that  princess,"  he  says, "  in  the  flower  of 
•er  age,  esteemed  and  adored  by  her  subjects,  And  sought  after  by  all 
•eighbouring  states,  insomuch  that  there  was  no  great  fortune  or  alli- 
ance that  she  might  not  have  aspired  to,  not  only  because  she  was  the 
relation  and  successor  of  the  Queen  of  England,  but  because  she  wa» 
endowed  with  more  graces  and  perfection  of  beauty  thar  any  other  prin- 
cess of  her  tune."—  Caxtelnau  in  Jebb,  vol.  ii.  p.  460 


180  LIFE    OF 


CHAPTER  XII. 

Mary's  Suitors,  v.nd  the  Machinations  of  her  Enemies. 

MARY  had  now  continued  a  widow  for  about  three 
years,  but  certainly  not  from  a  want  of  advantageous 
offeis.    It  was  in  her  power  to  have  formed  almost 
any  alliance  she  chose.    There  was  not  a  court  in 
Europe,  where  the  importance  of  a  matrimonial  con- 
nexion with  the  Queen  of  Scotland  and  heir-apparent 
to  the  English  throne  was  not  acknowledged.    Ac- 
cordingly, ambassadors  had  found  their  way  to  Holy- 
rood  palace  from  all  parts  of  the  Continent.     The 
three  most  influential  suitors  were,  the  Duke  of  An- 
jou,  brother  of  Mary's  late  husband,  Francis  II.,  and 
afterward  king  of  France  on  the  death  of  his  other  bro- 
ther Charles  IX., — the  Archduke  Charles,  of  Austria, 
third  son  of  the  emperor  Ferdinand, — and  Don  Carlos, 
of  Spain,  heir-apparent  to  all  the  dominions  of  his 
father,  Philip  II.     None  of  these  personages,  how- 
ever,  were  destined  to  be  successful.     The  death  of 
the  Duke  of  Guise,  and  the  greater  influence  which 
consequently  fell  into  the  hands  of  Catharine  de 
Medicis,  made  some  alteration  in  the  Duke  of  Anjou's 
prospects,  and  diminished  his  interest  with  Mary. 
Besides,  it  was  considered  dangerous  to  marry  the 
brother  of  a  late  husband.    The  Archduke  Charles 
found  that  his  proposals  to  the  Scottish  queen  ex- 
cited so  much  the  jealousy  of  his  elder  brother  Maxi- 
milian, that  it  became  necessary  for  him  reluctantly 
to  quit  the  field.    It  is  not  improbable  that  Don  Car- 
los might  have  been  listened  to,  had  not  Mary  found 
it  necessary,  for  reasons  which  will  be  mentioned 
immediately,  to  give  up  all  thoughts  of  a  continental 
alliance.    Had  she  married  Carlos,  she  might  have 


QVEEN    OF    SCOTS.  181 

saved  him  fiom  the  untimely  fate  indicted  by  parental 
cruelty  in  1568. 

Of  all  the  sovereigns  who  at  this  time  watched 
Mary's  intentions  with  the  most  jealous  anxiety, 
none  felt  so  deeply  interested  in  the  decision  she 
might  ultimately  come  to  as  Elizabeth.  To  hei 
Mary's  marriage  was  a  matter  of  the  very  last  im 
poitance.  If  she  connected  herself  with  a  powerful 
Catholic  prince,  her  former  claims  upon  the  English 
throne  might  be  renewed ;  and  her  Scottish  armies, 
assisted  by  Continental  forces,  might  ultimately  de- 
prive Elizabeth  of  her  crown.  Even  though  Mary 
did  not  proceed  to  such  extremities,  if  she  had  a 
Catholic  husband,  and  more  especially  if  there  were 
any  children  of  the  marriage,  all  the  Catholics  of 
Europe  would  rally  round  her,  and  her  power  would 
be  such  that  her  requests  would  be  tantamount  to 
commands.  So  far  as  Elizabeth's  own  interests,  and 
those  of  the  kingdom  over  which  she  reigned,  were 
involved,  she  was  called  upon  to  pay  all  due  attention 
to  the  proceedings  of  so  formidable  a  rival  as  Mary. 
But  the  English  queen's  selfish  and  invidious  policy 
far  overstepped  the  limits  marked  out  by  the  laws  of 
self-defence.  Having  determined  against  marriage 
herself,  she  could  not  bear  to  think  that  the  Queen 
of  Scots  should  be  any  thing  but  a  "  barren  stock" 
also.  It  made  her  miserable  to  know  that  her  power 
should  end  with  her  life,  while  Mary  might  become 
the  mother  of  a  long  line  of  kings.  She  hoped,  there- 
fore, though  she  did  not  dare  to  avow  her  object,  to 
be  able  to  exert  such  influence  with  Murray  and  the 
Scottish  Reformers,  that  Mary,  by  their  united  machi- 
nations, might  find  it  impossible  ever  to  form  another 
matrimonial  alliance ;  and  with  this  view  her  first 
step  was  to  inform  "her  good  sister"  that  if  she  mar- 
ried without  her  consent,  she  would  have  little  diffi- 
culty in  prevailing  upon  the  parliament  of  England 
to  set  aside  her  succession. 

Driven  hither  and  thither  by  so  many  contrary 


182  LIFE    OF    MARY 

opinions  and  contending  interests,  it  was  no  easy 
matter  for  the  Scottish  queen  to  come  to  a  final  de- 
termination upon  this  subject.  Although,  in  her  own 
words,  "  not  to  marry  she  knew  could  not  be  for  her, 
and  to  defer  it  long  many  incommodities  might  en- 
sue," she  at  the  same  time  saw  that  there  were  insu- 
perable reasons  against  a  foreign  alliance.  The  loss 
of  her  best  and  most  powerful  continental  friend,  the 
Duke  of  Guise,  was  one  of  these  ;  another  was  the 
avowed  wish  of  Elizabeth  and  the  English  nation ; 
and  the  third,  and  that  which  weighed  most  forcibly, 
the  earnest  entreaties  of  her  own  subjects.  The 
great  proportion  of  the  inhabitants  of  Scotland  were 
now  Protestants;  and  to  have  attempted  to  place 
over  them  a  foreign  Catholic  prince  would  have  been 
to  have  incurred  the  risk  of  throwing  them  at  once 
into  the  arms  of  Elizabeth,  and  of  losing  their  alle- 
giance for  ever.  Mary  was  therefore  willing  to  make 
a  virtue  of  necessity,  and  to  allow  herself  to  be 
guided  very  much  by  her  "  good  sister's  discretion." 
This  concession  to  the  English  queen  was  far  from 
oeing  agreeable  to  Catharine  de  Medicis  and  the 
French  court.  It  seemed  to  be  paving  the  way  for 
a  cessation  of  that  friendship  which  had  so  long  ex- 
isted between  France  and  Scotland.  Catharine, 
altering  her  policy,  began  to  treat  Mary  with  every 
mark  of  attention.  She  paid  up  the  dowry  she  re- 
ceived from  France,  which  had  fallen  into  arrears, 
and  requested  Mary  to  exercise  as  much  patronage 
ind  influence  in  that  country  as  she  chose.  Eliza- 
beth, however,  had  already  suggested  a  husband  for 
her,  and,  to  the  astonishment  of  everybody,  had 
named  her  favourite  minion,  Dudley,  Earl  of  Leices- 
ter. Though  the  proposal  of  one  of  her  own  sub- 
jects, and  one,  too,  whom  she  had  raised  from  com- 
parative obscurity,  was  regarded  by  Mary  as  little 
else  than  an  insult,  she  agreed  that  two  commission- 
ers upon  her  part,  Murray  and  Maitland,  should  meet 
two  of  Elizabeth's  the  Duke  of  Bedford  and  Ran- 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  183 

dolph,  to  discuss  the  expediency  of  the  match.    A 
the  conference,  which  took  place  at  Berwick,  it  wat 
stated  for  Mary,  that  she  could  never  condescend  to 
marry  a  newly-created  English  earl,  having  so  long 
a  list  of  princes  of  the  blood-royal  of  the  noblest 
houses  of  Europe  among  her  suitors;  and  it  was 
added,  boldly,  that  Elizabeth  seemed  somewhat  de- 
ficient even  in  self-respect,  when  she  could  think  of 
recommending  such  a  husband  for  a  queen,  her  kins- 
woman.   It  is  not  at  all  likely  that  either  Elizabeth 
or  the  Earl  of  Leicester  expected  or  wished  any  other 
answer.     Elizabeth  could  hardly  have  done  without 
her  favourite ;  and  the  earl  would  have  fallen  into 
irretrievable  disgrace  had  he1  dared  to  confess  a  pre- 
ference for  any  mistress  over  the  one  he  already  had. 
It  was  soon  after  this  conference  that  Randolph, 
by  Elizabeth's  directions,  repaired  to  the  queen  at  St. 
Andrews,  to  ascertain  from  her  own  lips  what  were 
her  real  sentiments  on  the  subject  of  marriage.    He 
found  her  living  very  quietly  in  a  merchant's  house, 
with  a  small  train.    She  had  been  wearied  with  the 
state  and  show  of  a  court,  and  had  determined  to  pass 
some  weeks  in  her  favourite  retirement  of  St.  An- 
drews, more  as  a  subject  than  a  queen.    She  made 
Randolph  dine  and  sup  with  her  every  day  during  his 
visit ;  and  she  frequently,  upon  these  occasions,  drank 
to  the  health  of  Elizabeth.    When  Randolph  entered 
upon  matters  of  business  Mary  said  to  him,  playfully, 
44 1  sent  for  you  to  be  merry,  and  to  see  how  like  a 
bourgeoise  wife  I  live  with  my  little  troop ;  and  you 
will  interrupt  our  pastime  with  your  great  and  grave 
matters.     I  pray  ye,  sir,  if  ye  be  weary  here,  return 
home  to  Edinburgh ;  and  keep  your  gravity  and  great 
embassade  until  the  queen  come  thither ;  for,  I  as- 
sure ye,  you  shall  not  get  her  here,  nor  I  know  not 
myself  where  she  is  become.    Ye  see  neither  cloth 
of  estate  nor  such  appearance  that  you  may  think 
that  there  is  a  queen  here ;  nor  I  would  not  that  you 
should  think  that  I  am  she  at  St.  Andrews  that  I  was 


184  LIFE    OF    MARY 

at  Edinburgh."  Randolph  was  thus,  for  the  time; 
fairly  bantered  out  of  his  diplomatic  gravity.  But 
next  day  he  rode  abroad  with  the  queen  and  renewed 
the  subject.  Mary  then  told  him  that  she  saw  the 
necessity  of  marrying,  and  that  she  would  rather  be 
guided  in  her  choice  by  England  than  by  France  or 
any  other  country  after  Scotland.  She  frankly  added 
that  her  reason  for  paying  this  deference  to  Eliza- 
beth was  to  obtain  an  acknowledgment  of  her  right 
of  succession  to  the  English  crown.  She  was  making 
a  sacrifice,  she  said,  in  renouncing  the  much  more 
splendid  alliances  which  had  been  offered  her ;  and 
she  could  not  be  expected  to  do  so  without  a  return 
on  the  part  of  Elizabeth.  Fearful  that  the  crafty 
Randolph  might  make  a  bad  use  of  this  open  con- 
fession, she  suddenly  checked  herself;-1-"  I  am  a 
fool,"  she  said, "  thus  long  to  talk  with  you ;  you  are 
too  subtle  for  me  to  deal  with."  But  Randolph,  find- 
ing her  in  a  communicative  mood,  was  unwilling 
that  the  conversation  should  drop  so  soon.  Some 
further  discourse  took  place,  and  Mary  in  conclusion 
gave  utterance  to  the  following  sentiments,  which  do 
honour  both  to  her  head  and  heart.  "  How  much 
better  were  it,"  said  she, "  that  we  two,  being  queens, 
so  near  of  kin  and  neighbours,  and  being  in  one  isle, 
should  be  friends  and  live  together  like  s'Qt»r3,  than 
by  strange  means  divide  ourselves  to  the  hurt  of  us 
both ;  and  to  say  that  we  may  for  all  that  live  friends, 
we  may  say  and  prove  what  we  will,  but  it  will  pass 
both  our  powers.  You  repute  us  poor;  but  yet  you 
have  found  us  cumbersome  enough.  \Ve  have  had 
loss ;  ye  have  taken  scaith.  Why  may  it  not  be  be- 
tween my  sister  and  me,  that  we,  living  on  peace  and 
assured  friendship,  may  give  our  minds,  that  some  as 
notable  things  may  be  wrought  by  us  women  as  by 
our  predecessors  have  been  done  before.  Let  us  seek 
this  honour  against  some  other,  rather  than  fall  to 
debate  among  ourselves."* 

•  Keith,  p.  269;  Chalmers  TO!,  i.  p.  1» 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  185 

Mary,  however,   ..      u 

Elizabeth's  want  of  sincerity}18--  time  convinced  of 
a  matrimonial  plan  of  her  own,  wmTJUpd,  therefore, 
herself,  would  be  considered  judicious  by  alf  pitered 
It  will  be  recollected  that  during  the  troubles  which 
ensued  soon  after  Mary's  birth,  Matthew,  Earl  of 
Lennox,  having  drawn  upon  himself  the  suspicion 
both  of  the  Protestant  and  Catholic  parties  in  Scot- 
land, retired  into  England,  where  Henry  VIII.  gave 
him  his  niece  in  marriage.  The  Lady  Margaret 
Douglas  was  daughter  of  the  eldest  daughter  of  Henry 
VII.,  the  Princess  Margaret,  who,  upon  the  decease 
of  her  first  husband,  James  IV.,  had  married  the  Earl 
of  Angus,  of  which  marriage  the  Lady  Margaret  was 
the  issue.  Lennox,  belonging  as  he  did  to  the  house 
of  Stuart,  was  himself  related  to  the  royal  family 
of  Scotland;  and  his  wife,  failing  the  children  of 
Henry  VIIL,  and  the  direct  line  of  succession  by  her 
mother's  first  husband  James  IV.,  in  which  line  Mary 
stood,  was  the  legal  heir  to  the  crown  of  England. 
The  first  child  of  this  marriage  died  in  infancy.  The 
second,  afterward  known  as  Henry  Stuart,  Lord 
Darnley,  was  born  in  1546,  and  was,  consequently, 
about  four  years  younger  than  Mary.  This  disparity 
in  point  of  years,  though  unfortunate  in  another  point 
of  view,  was  not  such  as  to  preclude  the  possibility 
of  an  alliance  between  two  persons  in  whose  veins 
flowed  so  much  of  the  blood  of  the  Stuarts  and  the 
Tudors. 

Henry  VIIL  had,  along  with  his  niece,  bestowed 
upon  Lennox  English  lands,  from  which  he  derived  a 
yearly  revenue  of  fifteen  hundred  marks.  His  own 
estates  in  Scotland  were  forfeited,  so  that  he  thus 
came  to  be  considered  more  an  English  than  a  Scot- 
tish subject.  He  had  long,  however,  nourished  the 
secret  hope  of  restoring  his  fortunes  in  his  native 
land.  His  wife,  who  was  a  woman  of  an  ambitious 
and  intriguing  spirit,  induced  him,  at  an  early  period, 
to  educate  his  son  with  a  view  to  his  aspiring  to  the 


186  LIFE    OF    MARY 

hand  of  the  Scottish  queen.  On  the  death  of  Fran- 
cis II.  she  went  herself  to  Paris,  for  the  purpose  of 
ingratiating  herself  with  Mary,  and  securing  a  fa- 
vourable opinion  for  Darnley.  Mary  probably  gave 
her  some  hope  that  she  might  at  a  future  date  take 
her  proposals  into  serious  consideration ;  for  it  ap- 
pears by  some  papers  still  preserved  in  the  British 
Museum,  that  few  rejoiced  more  sincerely  at  the 
queen's  safe  arrival  in  Scotland  than  Lady  Lennox. 
She  is  said  to  have  fallen  on  her  knees,  and  with  up- 
lifted hands  thanked  God  that  the  Scottish  queen  had 
escaped  the  English  ships.  For  this  piece  of  piety, 
*nd  to  show  her  the  necessity  of  taking  less  interest 
in  the  affairs  of  Elizabeth's  rival,  Cecil  sent  Lady 
Lennox  to  prison  for  some  months. 

Seeing  the  difficulties  which  stood  in  the  way  of 
all  her  other  suitors,  Mary,  in  the  year  1564,  began 
seriously  to  think  of  Darnley.  A  marriage  with  him 
would  unite,  in  the  person  of  the  heir  of  such  mar- 
riage, the  rival  claims  of  the  Stuarts  and  the  Tudors 
upon  the  English  succession,  failing  issue  by  Eliza- 
beth ;  and  it  would  give  to  Scotland  a  native  prince 
of  the  old  royal  line.  It  was  difficult  to  see  what 
reasonable  objections  could  be  made  to  such  an  alli- 
ance ;  and  that  she  might  at  all  events  have  an  op- 
portunity of  judging  for  herself,  Mary  granted  the 
Earl  of  Lennox  permission  to  return  to  Scotland  in 
1564,  after  an  exile  of  twenty  years,  and  promised  to 
assist  him  in  reclaiming  his  hereditary  rights.  Eliza- 
beth, who  was  well  aware  of  the  ultimate  views  with 
which  this  journey  was  undertaken,  and  had  certainly 
no  desire  to  forward  their  accomplishment,  made 
nevertheless  no  opposition  to  it.  With  her  usual 
sagacity,  she  calculated  that  much  discord  and  jea- 
lousy would  arise  out  of  the  earl's  suit  in  favour  of 
his  son.  She  knew  that  the  house  of  Hamilton, 
whose  claims  upon  the  Scottish  crown  were  publicly 
recognised,  looked  upon  the  Lennox  family  as  its 
worst  enemies;  and  that  the  haughty  nobility  o» 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  187 

Scotland  would  ill  brook  to  see  a  stripling  elevated 
above  the  heads  of  all  of  them.  Besides,  the  prin- 
cipal estates  of  Lennox  now  lay  in  England ;  and  in 
the  words  of  Robertson,  "  she  hoped  by  this  pledge 
to  keep  the  negotiation  entirely  in  her  own  hands, 
and  t-o  play  the  same  game  of  artifice  and  delay  which 
she  had  planned  out  if  her  recommendation  of  Lei- 
cester had  been  more  favourably  received." 

In  the  parliament  which  assembled  towards  the  end 
of  the  year  1564  Lennox  was  restored  to  his  estates 
and  honours.  Such  of  his  possessions  as  had  passed 
into  the  hands  of  the  Earl  of  Argyle  were  surren- 
dered with  extreme  reluctance;  and  the  Duke  of 
Chatelherault,  dreading  the  marriage  with  Darnley, 
continued  obstinate  in  his  hatred.  The  Earl  of  Mur- 
ray, too,  aware  that  this  new  connexion  would  be  ? 
fatal  blow  to  his  influence,  set  his  face  against  it  from 
the  first.  Maitland,  on  the  contrary,  who  felt  that 
he  had  been  hitherto  kept  too  much  under  by  the 
prime  minister,  did  not  anticipate  with  any  regret 
the  decline  of  his  ascendency.  The  secretary  and 
most  of  the  other  members  of  the  privy  council 
were  assiduously  courted  by  Lennox.  He  made 
presents  both  to  the  queen  and  them  of  valuable 
jewels ;  but  to  Murray,  whose  enmity  he  knew,  he 
gave  nothing.*  That  Murray's  weight  in  the  govern- 
ment, however,  had  not  yet  decreased  is  apparent  from 

'•  Chalmers  says  (vol.  i.  p.  120),  that  the  "  Countess  of  Lennox  sen' 
Murray  a  diamond,"  which,  though  true,  is  not  supported  by  the  authority 
tie  quotes, — Randolph  in  Keith,  who  says  (p.  259),  "  Lennox  giveth  to 
the  queen  and  most  of  the  council  jewels ;  but  none  to  Murray."  The 
authority  Chalmers  ought  to  have  quoted  is  Melville  (p.  127),  who,  on  his 
return  from  his  embassy  to  England,  brought  some  presents  with  him 
from  Lady  Lennox,  who  was  then  not  aware  of  the  precise  state  of  par 
ties  in  Scotland.  "  My  Lady  Lennox,"  says  Melville.  "  sent  also  tokens , 
to  the  queen  a  ring  with  a  lair  diamont;  ane  emerald  to  my  lord  herhus- 
jand,  who  was  yet  in  Scotland ;  a  diamont  to  my  Lord  of  Murray ;  ane 
•rloge  or  montre  (watch)  set  with  diamonts  and  rubies,  to  the  Secretary 
Lethington  ;  a  ring  with  a  ruby  to  my  brother  Sir  Robert ;  for  she  waa 
still  in  good  hope  that  her  son,  my  Lord  Darnley,  should  come  better 
speed  than  the  Earl  of  Leicester,  anent  the  marriage  with  the  queen.  SUe 
was  a  very  wise  and  discreet  matron.,  and  had  many  favourers  in  Eng 
•.ml  Ibr  the  time." 
I P 


188  LIFE    OF    MART 

his  procuring  an  enactment  to  gratify  the  Protestants 
in  the  parliament  of  this  year,  making  the  attending 
of  mass,  except  in  the  queen's  chapel,  punishable 
with  loss  of  goods,  lands,  and  life ;  and  the  Arch- 
bishop of  St.  Andrews,  having  infringed  this  act,  was 
imprisoned,  in  spite  of  Mary's  intercession,  for  some 
months. 

Early  in  1565  Darnley  obtained  leave  from  Eliza- 
beth  to  set  out  for  Scotland.  His  ostensible  purpose 
was  to  visit  his  father,  and  to  see  the  estates  to  which 
he  had  been  recently  restored;  but  that  his  real 
object  was  to  endeavour  to  win  the  good  graces  of 
Mary  was  no  secret.  Elizabeth's  wish  being  to 
involve  Mary  in  a  quarrel,  as  well  with  some  of  her 
own  nobility  as  with  England,  there  was  much  art 
in  the  plan  she  laid  for  its  accomplishment.  She  con- 
sented that  the  Earl  of  Lennox  should  go  into  Scot- 
land to  recover  his  forfeited  estates,  and  that  his  son 
should  follow  him  to  share  in  his  father's  good  for- 
tune; she  even  went  the  length  of  recommending 
them  both  to  the  especial  favour  of  the  Scottish 
queen ;  but  of  course  said  not  a  word  of  any  sus- 
picions she  entertained  of  the  projected  alliance.  As 
soon  as  it  should  appear  that  Mary's  resolution  was 
taken,  she  would  affect  the  greatest  indignation  at 
the  whole  proceedings,  and  pretend  that  they  had 
been  cunningly  devised  and  executed,  hoping  either 
to  break  off  the  match  altogether,  or  to  make  Mary's 
nuptial  couch  any  thing  but  a  bed  of  roses.  Thus 
was  the  Scottish  queen  to  be  systematically  har- 
assed, and  made  miserable,  to  gratify  the  splenetic 
jealousy,  and  lull  the  selfish  terrors,  of  her  sister  of 
England. 

Darnley,  in  the  midst  of  a  severe  snow-storm, 
travelled  with  all  expedition  to  Edinburgh.  Upon 
his  arrival  he  found  that  Mary  was  at  Wemyss  Castle 
in  Fife,  whither,  at  his  father's  desire,  he  immediately 
proceeded.  The  impression  which  it  is  said  he  made 
upon  the  queen,  at  even  his  first  interview,  has  been 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  189 

much  exaggerated.  Chalmers,  alluding  principally 
to  Robertson's  account  of  this  matter,  acutely  re- 
marks, "  The  Scottish  historians  would  have  us 
believe,  that  Mary  fell  desperately  in  love  with  Darn- 
ley  at  first  sight ;  they  would  have  us  suppose,  as 
simply  as  themselves,  that  the  widowed  queen,  at 
the  age  of  twenty-two"  (it  should  have  been  twenty- 
three),  "  who  knew  the  world,  and  had  seen  the  most 
accomplished  gentlemen  in  Europe,  was  a  boarding- 
school  miss,  who  had  never  till  now  seen  a  man." 
Mary  received  Darnley  frankly,  and  as  one  whom 
she.  wished  to  like ;  but  she  had  been  too  long  accus- 
tomed to  admiration  to  be  prepared  to  surrender  her 
heart  at  the  first  glance.  It  was  not  Mary's  charac- 
ter to  allow  herself  to  be  won  before  she  was  wooed. 
She  was,  no  doubt,  glad  to  perceive  that  Darnley 
was  one  of  the  handsomest  young  men  of  the  day. 
She  said,  playfully,  that "  he  was  the  lustiest  and  best, 
proportioned  long  man  she  had  seen."  She  might 
have  said  a  good  deal  more ;  for  all  historians  agree 
in  noticing  the  grace  of  his  person,  the  easy  elegance 
of  his  carriage,  the  agreeable  regularity  of  his  fea- 
tures, and  the  animated  expression  of  his  counte- 
nance, lighted  up,  as  it  was,  by  a  pair  of  dazzling 
eyes.  He  excelled,  too,  in  all  the  showy  and  manly 
accomplishments  so  much  in  vogue  among  the  young 
nobility.  His  riding  and  dancing  were  unrivalled ; 
and  to  gratify  Mary,  he  avowed,  whether  real  or 
affected,  a  great  fondness  for  poetry  and  music. 
Melville  says,  quaintly,  "  He  was  of  a  heigh  stat- 
ure, lang  and  small,  even  and  brent  up;  well  in- 
structed from  his  youth  in  all  honest  and  comely 
exercises."* 

*  In  confirmation  of  the  fact,  that  he  was  "  well-instructed,"  i*  nut} 
be  mentioned,  that,  before  he  was  twelve  years  old,  he  wrote  a  tale, 
called  "  Utopia  Nova."  Some  ballads  are  also  ascribed  to  him ;  and 
Bishop  Montague,  in  his  preface  to  the  works  of  James  VI.,  mentions, 
that  he  translated  Valerius  Maximus  into  English.  His  only  literary 
•flbrt  which  seems  to  have  leen  preserved  is  a  letter  he  wrote  when 
about  nine  years  old  from  Temple  Newsome,  his  father's  principal  seat  in 


190  LIFE    OF    MARY 

It  was  not,  however,  Damley's  exterior  in  which 
Mary  and  her  subjects  were  principally  interested. 
The  bent  which  nature  and  education  had  given  to 
his  mind  and  character  was  a  much  more  important 
subject  of  consideration.  With  regard  to  his  reli- 
gious sentiments,  they  seem  to  have  sat  loosely  upon 
him ;  though  his  mother  was  a  Catholic,  he  himself 
professed  adherence  to  the  established  church  of 

Yorkshire,  to  his  cousin  Mary  Tudor,  Queen  of  England.    It  deserve* 
insertion  as  a  curiosity : — 

"  Like  as  the  monument*  of  ancient  authors,  most  triumphant,  moat 
victorious,  and  most  gracious  princess,  declare  how  that  a  certain  excel 
lent  musician,  Timotheus  Musicus,  was  wont,  with  his  sweet-propor- 
tioned and  melodious  harmony,  to  inflame  Alexander  the  Great,  conqueror 
and  king  of  Macedonia,  to  civil  wars,  with  a  roost  fervent  desire,  even 
so  I,  remembering  with  myself  oftentimes  how  that  (over  and  besides 
such  manifold  benefits  as  your  highness  heretofore  hath  bestowed  on  me) 
it  hath  pleased  your  most  excellent  majesty  lately  to  accept  a  little  plot 
of  my  simple  penning,  which  I  termed  Utopia  Nova  ;  for  the  which,  it 
being  base,  vile,  and  maimed,  your  majesty  hath  given  me  a  rich  chain  of 
gold ; — the  noise  (I  say)  of  such  instruments  as  I  hear  now  and  then 
(although  their  melody  differ  much  from  the  sweet  strokes  and  sounds  of 
King  Alexander's  Timotheus)  do  not  only  persuade  and  move,  yea,  prick 
and  spur  me  forward,  to  endeavour  my  wits  daily  (all  vanities  set  apart) 
to  virtuous  learning  and  study,  being  thereto  thus  encouraged,  so  often- 
times by  your  majesty's  manifold  benefits,  gifts,  and  rewards ;  but  also 
I  am  enflamed  and  stirred,  even  now  my  tender  age  notwithstanding,  to 
be  serving  your  grace,  wishing  every  hair  in  my  head  for  to  be  a  worthy 
Holdier  of  that  same-self  heart,  mind,  and  stomach,  that  I  am  of.  Bui 
whereas  I  perceive  that  neither  my  wit,  power,  nor  years  are  at  this 
present  corresponding  unto  this,  my  good  will ;  these  shall  be,  therefore 
(most  gracious  princess),  most  numbly  rendering  unto  your  majesty  im- 
mortal thanks  for  your  rich  chain,  and  other  your  highness'  sundry  gifts, 
given  unto  me  without  any  my  deservings,  from  time  to  time.  Trusting 
in  God  one  day  of  my  most  bounden  duty  to  endeavour  myself,  with  my 
faithful  hearty  service,  to  remember  the  same.  And  being  afraid,  with 
these  my  superfluous  words  to  interturb  (God  forfend)  your  highness, 
whose  most  excellent  majesty  is  always,  and  specially  now,  occupied  in 
most  weighty  matters,  thus  I  make  an  end.  Praying  unto  Almighty 
God  most  humbly  and  faithfully  to  preserve,  keep,  and  defend  your 
majesty,  long  reigning  over  us  all,  your  true  and  faithful  subjects,  a  moat 
victorious  and  triumphant  princess.  Amen. — From  Temple  Newsome, 
the  28th  March,  1554. 

Your  majesty's  most  bounden  and  obedient 
subject  and  servant, 

HKNRY  DAP.NLEY.* 

*  Ellis's  collection  of  "  Original  Letters  illustrative  of  English  Hm 
tory.*  Second  series,  vol  ii.  P.  249 


QUEEN  OF    SCOTS.  19) 

England.*  In  Scotland,  he  saw  the  necessity  of  in- 
gratiating himself  with  the  Reformers ;  and  he  went, 
the  very  first  Sunday  he  spent  in  Edinburgh,  to  hear 
Knox  preach.  But  Damley's  great  misfortune  was, 
that,  before  he  had  learned  any  thing  in  the  school 
of  experience,  and  in  the  very  heat  and  fire  of  youth, 
he  was  raised  to  an  eminence  which,  so  far  from 
enabling  him  to  see  over  the  heads  of  other  men, 
only  rendered  him  giddy,  and  made  his  inferiority 
the  more  apparent.  He  was  naturally  of  a  head- 
strong and  violent  temper,  which  might  perhaps  have 
been  tamed  down  by  adversity,  but  which  only  ran 
into  wilder  waste  in  the  sunshine  of  prosperity.  He 
was  passionately  fond  of  power,  without  the  ability 
to  make  a  proper  use  of  it.  It  is  not  unlikely  that, 
had  he  continued  a  subject  for  some  years  longer,  and 
associated  with  men  of  sound  judgment  and  practical 
knowledge,  he  might  have  divested  himself  of  some 
of  the  follies  of  youth,  and  acquired  a  contempt  for 
many  of  its  vices.  But  his  honours  came  upon  him 
too  suddenly ;  and  the  intellectual  strength  of  his 
character,  never  very  great,  was  crushed  under  the 
load.  Conscious  of  his  inability  to  cope  with  persons 
of  talent,  he  sought  to  gather  round  him  those  who 
were  willing  to  flatter  him  on  account  of  his  rank, 
or  to  join  him  in  all  kinds  of  dissipation,  with  the 
view  of  sharing  his  ill-regulated  liberality.  Of  the 
duties  of  a  courtier  he  knew  something;  but  of 
those  of  a  politician  he  was  profoundly  ignorant. 
The  polish  of  his  manners  gained  him  friends  at 
first ;  but  the  reckless  freedom  with  which  he  gave 
utterance  to  his  hasty  opinions  and  ill-grounded  pre- 
judices speedily  converted  them  into  enemies.  He 
had  only  been  a  short  time  in  Scotland,  when  he 
remarked  to  one  of  the  Earl  of  Murray's  brothers, 
who  pointed  out  to  him  on  the  map  the  earl's  lands, 
*  that  they  were  too  extensive."  Murray  was  told 

*  Keith,  p.  278. 


192  LIFE    OF     MART 

of  this  ;  and,  perceiving  what  he  had  to  expect  when 
Darnley  became  king,  he  took  his  measures  accord- 
ingly. Mary,  whose  affliction  it  was  to  have  hue- 
bands  far  inferior  to  herself  in  mental  qualifications, 
besought  Darnley  to  be  more  guarded  in  future. 
That  he  was  somewhat  violent  and  self-sufficient  she 
did  not  feel  to  be  an  insuperable  objection,  consid 
ering,  as  she  did,  the  political  advantages  that  might 
accrue  from  the  alliance.  She  hoped  that  time  would 
improve  him ;  and  besides,  she  did  not  yet  know  the 
full  extent  of  his  imperfections,  as  he  had,  of  course, 
been  anxious  to  show  her  only  the  fairer  side  of  his 
character.  Melville  speaks  of  him,  even  when  he 
came  to  be  most  hated,  as  a  young  prince,  who  failed 
rather  for  lack  of  good  counsel  than  of  evil  will. 
"  It  appeared  to  be  his  destiny,"  says  he,  "  to  like 
better  of  flatterers  and  evil  company,  than  of  plain 
speakers  and  good  men ;  whilk  has  been  the  wreck 
of  many  princes,  who,  with  good  company,  might 
have  produced  worthy  effects."  Randolph  himself 
allows,  that  for  some  weeks  his  "behaviour  was 
very  well  liked,  and  there  was  great  promise  of  him." 
He  had  been  about  a  month  at  court  before  he  ven- 
tured to  propose  himself  as  a  husband  to  Mary ;  and 
at  first  she  gave  him  but  small  encouragement,  tell- 
ing him  she  had  not  yet  made  up  her  mind,  and  refus- 
ing to  accept  of  a  ring  which  he  offered  her.*  This 
was  not  like  one  who  had  fallen  in  love  at  first  sight. 
But  the  queen  invariably  conducted  herself  with 
becoming  self-respect  towards  Darnley,  permitting, 
as  Miss  Benger  remarks,  rather  than  inviting,  his 
attentions. 

Darnley,  thus  finding  that,  though  the  ball  was  at 
his  foot,  the  game  was  not  already  won,  saw  it  ne- 
cessary to  engage  with  his  father's  assistance  as 
powerful  a  party  as  possible  to  support  his  preten- 
*ioiu  Sir  James  Melville  was  his  friend,  and  spoke 

Melville's  Memoirs,  p   114. 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  193 

m  his  favour  to  Mary.  All  the  lords  who  hated  or 
feared  Murray  did  the  same ;  among  whom  were  the 
Earls  of  Athol  and  Caithness,  and  the  Lords  Ruth- 
Ten  and  Hume.  A  still  more  useful  agent  than  any 
of  these  Darnley  found  in  David  Rizzio,  who,  as  the 
queen's  French  secretary,  and  one  whose  abilities 
the  respected,  had  a  good  deal  of  influence  with  her. 
Rizzio  knew  that  for  this  very  reason  he  was  hated 
by  Murray  and  others  of  the  privy  council.  He  was 
therefore  not  ill  pleased  to  find  himself  sought  after 
fcy  her  future  husband,  for  he  hoped  thus  to  retain 
kis  place  at  court,  and  perhaps  to  rise  upon  the  ruin 
•f  some  of  those  who  wished  his  downfall.  An  ac- 
cidental illness  which  overtook  Darnley  when  the 
queen,  with  her  court,  was  at  Stirling,  about  the  be- 
ginning of  April,  1565,  was  another  circumstance  in 
his  favour.  At  first  his  complaint  was  supposed  to 
be  a  common  cold,  but  in  a  few  days  it  turned  out  to 
be  the  measles.  The  natural  anxiety  which  Mary 
felt  for  Darnley's  recovery  induced  her  to  exhibit 
a  tenderer  interest  in  him  than  she  had  ever  done 
before.  She  paid  him  the  most  flattering  attentions, 
and  continued  them  unwearingly,  though  her  patient 
was  provokingly  attacked  by  an  ague  almost  imme- 
diately after  his  recovery  from  the  measles.* 

It  is  worth  noticing,  that  while  Mary  was  thus  oc 
•upied  in  attending  to  Darnley,  the  Earl  of  Bothwell 
returned  to  Scotland  from  his  involuntary  banish- 
nent.  His  former  misdemeanors  were  not  yet  for- 
gotten, and  he  was  summoned  by  the  queen  and 
Murray  to  take  his  trial  in  Edinburgh:  but  not  liking 
to  trust  himself  in  the  hands  of  his  ancient  enemies, 

*  Mary's  conduct  upon  this  occasion  may  be  compared  with  that  of 
Elizabeth  to  her  favourite  Essex  ;  but  the  Scottish  queen's  motives  were 
•f  a  far  purer  and  better  kind.  "  When  Essex,"  says  Walpole,  "  acted 
a  fit  of  sickness,  not  a  day  passed  without  the  queen's  sending  after  tr 
•ee  him  ;  and  she  once  went  so  far  as  to  sit  long  by  him,  and  order  hi* 
kroths  and  things.''  "  It  may  be  observed,"  remarks  Chalmers,  "  that 
Mary  was  engaged  (or  rather  secretly  resolved)  to  marry  Darnley,  but 
Elizabeth  onlv  flirted  with  Essex." 

31—18 


H»l  LIFE    01    .HuRV 

he  again  left  the  country  for  six  months.  He  did 
not  depart  before  giving  utterance  to  several  violent 
threats  against  Murray  and  Maitland,  and  speaking 
so  disrespectfully  of  the  queen,  that  Randolph  says 
she  declared  to  him,  upon  her  honour,  that  he  should 
never  receive  favour  at  her  hands.* 

The  Queen  of  Scots,  being  now  resolved  to  bestow 
her  hand  on  Darnley,  sent  her  secretary,  Maitland, 
to  London,  to  intimate  her  intentions,  and  to  request 
Elizabeth's  approbation.  This  was  the  very  last 
thing  Elizabeth  meant  to  give.  The  matter  had  now 
arrived  exactly  at  the  point  to  which  she  had  all 
along  wished  to  bring  it.  She  had  prevailed  upon 
Mary  to  abandon  the  idea  of  a  foreign  alliance ;  she 
had  induced  her  to  throw  away  some  valuable  time 
in  ridiculous  negotiations  concerning  the  Earl  of 
Leicester;  she  had  consented,  first  that  the  Earl  of 
Lennox,  and  then  that  his  son  Darnley,  should  go  into 
Scotland ;  and  she  did  not  say  a  single  syllable  against 
it  till  she  had  allowed  Mary  to  be  persuaded  that  no 
marriage  in  Christendom  could  be  more  prudent. 
It  was  now  that  the  cloven  foot  was  to  betray  itself: 
that  her  faction  was  to  be  called  upon  to  exert  itself 
in  Scotland;  that  the  cup  was  to  be  dashed  from 
Darnley's  lips ;  and  that  Mary  was  to  be  involved  in 
the  vortex  of  civil  dissension.  The  historian  Cas- 
telnau, whom  Mary  at  this  time  sent  as  her  ambas 
sador  to  France,  and  who  there  obtained  their  majes 
ties'  consent  to  the  marriage,  mentions,  that  when  he 
returned  through  England,  he  found  the  queen  much 
colder  than  formerly,  complaining  that  Mary  had 
subtracted  her  relation  and  subject,  and  that  she  was 
intending  to  marry  him  without  her  permission  and 
against  her  approbation.  "  And  yet  I  am  sure,"  adds 
Castelnau,  "that  these  words  were  very  far  from 
her  heart ;  for  she  used  all  her  efforts,  and  spared 
nothing  to  set  this  marriage  a-going. "f 

•  Keith,  p.  270.  and  Chalmers,  rol.  ii.  p.  214,  et  »e<j. 

*  Castelnau  in  Keith,  p.  277 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  195 

Elizabeth  seldom  did  things  by  halves.  She  as- 
sembled her  privy  council,  and  at  the  instigation  of 
Cecil  they  gave  it  as  their  unanimous  opinion  that 
"  this  marriage  with  my  Lord  Darnley  appeared  to 
be  unmeet,  unprofitable,  and  directly  prejudicial  to 
the  sincere  amity  between  both  the  queens."*  Upon 
what  reasons  this  sage  determination  was  founded 
the  privy  council  did  not  condescend  to  state.  It  is 
not  difficult,  however,  to  do  so  for  them,  the  more 
especially  as  an  official  paper  is  still  preserved,  drawn 
up  by  Cecil  himself,  in  which  the  explanations  he 
attempts  serve  to  disclose  more  fully  his  own  and  his 
queen's  policy.  He  did  not  think  this  marriage 
"  meet  or  profitable,"  because,  in  the  first  place,  it 
would  have  given  great  content  to  those  who  were 
anxious  that  Mary's  succession  to  the  English  crown 
should  not  be  set  aside ;  and,  in  the  second  place,  be- 
cause, by  representing  it  as  dangerous,  a  plausible  pre- 
tence would  be  furnished  to  all  Mary's  enemies  to  join 
with  Elizabeth  in  opposing  it,  and  harassing  the 
Queen  of  Scots.  Cecil  proceeds  to  point  out  expli- 
citly how  the  harassing  system  was  to  be  carried 
on.  First,  it  was  to  be  represented  that  in  France 
the  houses  of  Guise  and  Lorraine,  and  all  the  other 
leading  Catholics,  and  in  Scotland  all  who  hated  the 
Duke  of  Chatelherault  and  the  Hamiltons,  and  Mur- 
ray, and  the  Reformers,  and  were  devoted  to  the 
authority  of  Rome,  approved  of  the  marriage.  Second, 
it  was  to  be  spread  abroad  that  the  Devil  would  stir 
up  some  of  the  friends  of  Mary  and  Darnley  to  alien- 
ate the  minds  of  Elizabeth's  subjects,  and  even  to 
attempt  the  life  of  that  sovereign;  and,  under  the 
pretext  of  preventing  such  evils,  the  most  rigorous 
measures  might  be  taken  against  all  suspected  per- 
sons :  and,  third,  tumults  and  rebellions  in  Scotland 
were  to  be  fomented  in  all  prudent  and  secret  ways.f 

To  report  to  Mary  the  decision  of  her  privy  coun- 

*  Keith,  p.  375  Ibid.,  Appendix,  p.  97. 


196  LIFE    OF    MART 

cil,  Elizabeth  sent  Sir  Nicholas  Throckmorton  into 
Scotland.  He  arrived  at  Stirling  on  the  15th  of  May, 
1565,  and  in  an  audience  which  Mary  gave  him,  he  set 
forth  Elizabeth's  disliking  and  disallowance  of  what 
she  was  pleased  to  term  "  the  hasty  proceeding  with 
my  Lord  Darnley."  Mary,  with  becoming  dignity 
and  unanswerable  argument,  replied  that  she  was 
sorry  Elizabeth  disliked  the  match,  but  that  as  to  her 
"disallowance,"  she  had  never  asked  the  English 
queen's  permission ;  she  had  only  communicated  to 
her,  as  soon  as  she  had  made  up  her  own  mind,  the 
person  whom  she  had  chosen.  She  was  not  a  little 
surprised,  she  added,  at  Elizabeth's  opposition,  since 
it  had  been  expressly  intimated  to  her  through  the 
English  resident,  Randolph,  that  if  she  avoided  a 
foreign  alliance,  "  she  might  take  her  choice  of  any 
person  within  the  realms  of  England  or  Scotland, 
without  any  exception."  Her  choice  had  fallen  upon 
Lord  Darnley,  both  from  the  good  qualities  she  found 
in  him,  and  because,  being  Elizabeth's  kinsman  and 
hers,  and  participating  of  the  English  and  Scottish 
blood-royal,  she  had  imagined  that  none  would  be 
more  agreeable  to  her  majesty  and  the  realm  of  Eng- 
land. Convinced  by  so  decided  an  answer  to  his 
remonstrance  that  Mary's  resolution  was  fixed. 
Throckmorton  wrote  to  Elizabeth  that  she  could  not 
hope  to  stop  the  marriage  unless  she  had  recourse  to 
Tiolence.  But  Elizabeth  had  too  much  prudence  to 
take  up  arms  herself ;  all  she  wished  was  to  instigate 
others  to  this  measure.  Accordingly,  Throckmor- 
ton, one  of  the  wiliest  of  her  diplomatic  agents,  re- 
teived  orders  to  deal  with  the  Scottish  malecontents, 
and  especially  the  Earl  of  Murray,  whom  he  was  to 
assure  of  Elizabeth's  support  should  they  proceed  to 
extremities.  Murray  was  likewise  invited  to  enter 
into  a  correspondence  with  Cecil,  an  invitation  with 
which  he  willingly  complied  ;*  and  to  give  the  whole 

*  Keith,  p.  380 


OF    SCOTS.  l'J7 

affair  as  serious  an  air  as  possible,  a  fresh  supply  of 
troops  was  sent  to  the  Earl  of  Bedford,  Elizabeth's 
lieutenant  of  the  borders ;  and  her  wardens  of  the 
Marches  were  commanded  to  show  no  more  favour 
to  Mary's  subjects  than  the  bare  abstaining  from  any 
breach  of  peace.  The  Earl  of  Northumberland,  who 
was  attached  to  the  Lennox  family,  was  detained  in 
London ;  and  Lady  Lennox  herself  was  committed 
to  the  Tower.  Lady  Somerset,  who  pretended  a  sort 
of  title  to  the  English  succession  in  opposition  to 
Mary,  was  received  very  graciously  at  the  court  of 
Westminster.  Means  were  used  to  induce  Secretary 
Maitland  to  associate  himself  with  Murray  and  the 
•ther  discontents ;  and  all  this  time,  that  no  suspi- 
cion of  such  insidious  enmity  towards  the  Scottish 
queen  might  be  entertained  on  the  Continent,  the  good 
opinion  of  France  and  Spain  was  carefully  courted. 
Elizabeth  next  wrote  letters  to  Lennox  and  Darnley. 
commanding  them  both,  as  her  subjects,  to  return  to 
England  without  delay.  Randolph  was  desired  to 
wait  upon  them,  to  know  what  answer  they  were 
disposed  to  give.  He  got  little  satisfaction  from 
either; — Lennox  firmly,  and  Darnley  contemptuously, 
refused  to  obey  the  mandate  of  recall.  Randolph 
then  waited  upon  the  queen  to  ascertain  her  mind  on 
the  subject.  Mary  felt  keenly  the  contemptible 
jealousy  and  envy  with  which  she  was  treated  by 
Elizabeth ;  and  received  the  English  resident  with 
greater  reserve  than  she  had  ever  done  before, "  as  a 
man  new  and  first  come  into  her  presence  that  she 
had  never  seen."  Randolph  asked  if  she  would  give 
Lennox  and  Darnley  permission  to  depart  for  Eng- 
land. Mary  smiled  at  the  question  which  was  an 
artful  one,  and  said,  "  If  I  would  give  them  leave, 
I  doubt  what  they  would  do  themselves ;  I  see  no 
will  in  them  to  return."  Randolph  answered,  with 
insolence,  that  they  must  either  return  or  do  worse; 
for  that  if  they  refused,  and  were  supported  by  Mary 
in  that  refusal,  the  queen  his  mistress  had  the  power 


198  LIFE    OF    MARY 

and  the  will  to  be  revenged  upon  both  them  and  her 
The  Queen  of  Scots  merely  replied  that  she  hoped 
Elizabeth  would  change  her  mind,  and  so  dismissed 
Randolph. 

Satisfied  of  the  integrity  of  her  purpose,  Mary 
was  not  to  be  easily  driven  from  it.  She  sent  Mr. 
John  Hay  to  the  English  court,  to  state  once  more 
her  anxious  wish  to  avoid  giving  any  just  cause  of 
offence  to  Elizabeth,  but  at  the  same  time  to  repeat, 
that  she  could  not  but  consider  as  strange  and  vexa- 
tious any  opposition  to  a  marriage  to  which  there 
did  not  seem  to  be  one  plausible  objection.  He  was 
desired  also  to  complain  of  the  "  sharp  handling" 
which  had  been  given  to  Mary's  aunt,  the  Lady 
Margaret  Douglas,  Countess  of  Lennox.  But  her 
chief  anxieties  arose  from  the  state  of  matters 
nearer  home.  The  Duke  of  Chatelherault,  and  the 
Earls  of  Murray,  Argyle,  and  Glencairn  had  now 
openly  declared  themselves  adverse  to  the  marriage ; 
and  Lethington  and  Morton  were  suspected  of  giving 
it  only  a  very  doubtful  support.  There  was  in 
consequence,  a  great  change  at  Mary's  court.  They 
who  had  formerly  most  influence  kept  away  from  it 
altogether ;  and  a  new  set  of  men,  little  accustomed 
to  state-duties,  such  as  Montrose,  Fleming,  Cassilis, 
Montgomery,  and  others,  came  into  favour.  It  was 
now  that  Mary  found  Rizzio,  who  was  active  and 
well  acquainted  with  all  the  details  of  public  busi- 
ness, and  was  besides  liked  by  Darnley,  of  the 
greatest  use  to  her ;  and  being  deserted  by  her  more 
efficient  but  too  ambitious  counsellors,  she  gladly 
availed  herself  of  his  services. 


OI7EEN    OF    SCOTS.  199 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

M  vry's  Marriage  with  Darnley. 

MURRAY  meanwhile,  was  busily  organizing  his 
Rcheme  o'"  rebellion.  "Their  chief  trust,"  says 
Randolph,  alluding  to  the  earl  and  his  associates, 
"  next  unto  God  is  the  queen's  majesty  (Elizabeth), 
whom  they  will  repose  themselves  upon ;  not  leav- 
ing in  the  »nean  time  to  provide  for  themselves  the 
best  they  can."  Elizabeth  was  not  backward  to 
give  them  every  encouragement.  She  wrote  letters 
to  the  heads  of  the  party ;  means  were  taken  to  win 
over  to  their  views  the  general  assembly,  which  met 
in  June,  1565,  the  members  of  which,  as  Randolph 
says,  were  "  never  more  constant  or  more  earnest ;" 
and  the  nobles  summoned  by  Mary  to  a  convention 
at  Perth  were  all  tampered  with.  But  the  great 
majority  at  this  convention  gave  their  consent  and 
approbation  to  the  proposed  marriage ;  and  Murray, 
in  despair,  begged  Randolph  to  inform  his  mistress, 
in  the  name  of  himself  and  those  who  had  joined  his 
faction,  that  they  were  "  grieved  to  see  such  ex- 
treme folly  in  their  sovereign ;  that  they  lamented 
the  state  of  their  country,  which  tended  to  utter  ruin; 
and  that  they  feared  the  nobility  would  be  forced  to 
assemble  themselves  together,  so  to  provide  for  the 
state  that  it  should  not  utterly  perish."  In  other 
words,  they  had  made  up  their  mind  to  rebellion ;  at 
all  events,  to  prevent  Darnley  from  obtaining  the 
crown,  and  an  ascendency  over  them ;  and  probably, 
if  an  opportunity  should  offer,  to  put  Mary  in  con- 
finement, and  rule  the  country  themselves.  This  was 
exactly  the  state  of  feeling  which  Elizabeth  harf 


200  I. IKK    OF    MARY 

long  laboured  to  produce  in  Scotland.  "  Some  that 
have  already  heard,"  says  Randolph, "  of  my  lady's 
grace  imprisonment"  (meaning  the  Countess  of 
Lennox)  "like  very  well  thereof,  and  wish  both 
father  and  son  to  keep  her  company.  The  question 
hath  been  asked  me  whether,  if  they  were  delivered 
us  into  Berwick,  we  would  receive  them  ?  I  an- 
swered, that  we  could  not  nor  would  not  refuse  out 
own,  in  what  sort  soever  they  came  unto  us.***  But 
as  it  was  felt  that  a  plausible  apology  would  be  re- 
quired for  proceeding  to  these  extremities,  the  Earl 
of  Murray  gave  out  that  a  conspiracy  had  bee« 
formed  to  assassinate  him  at  the  convention  at 
Perth.  His  story  was,  that  there  had  been  a  quarrel 
between  one  of  his  own  servants  and  another  man, 
who  was  supported  by  the  retainers  of  Athol  and 
Lennox,  and  that  it  had  been  arranged  that  they 
should  renew  their  dispute  at  Perth,  and  that  he 
himself  should  be  slain  in  the  affray  which  was  ex- 
pected to  ensue.  But  the  evidence  of  a  plot  against 
him  rests  only  upon  Murray's  own  statement ;  and 
when  Mary  asked  him  to  transmit  in  writing  a  more 
particular  account  of  it,  seeing  that  he  made  it  his 
excuse  for  refusing  to  come  to  court,  "  it  appeared 
to  her  highness  and  to  her  council,  that  his  purgation 
in  that  behalf  was  not  so  sufficient  as  the  matter  re- 
quired ;"  and  his  excuse  was  not  sustained.! 

The  treasonable  views  entertained  by  Murray  and 
his  friends  are  involved  in  no  such  doubt.  In  these 
times  the  common  mode  of  effecting  a  change  in 
the  government  was  to  seize  the  person  of  the 
sovereign;  and  all  historians  of  credit  agree  in 
affirming,  that  Murray  was  determined  on  making 
the  experiment.  On  Sunday,  the  1st  of  July,  1565, 
the  queen  was  to  ride  with  Damley  and  a  small 

•  Keith,  p.  290. 

t  Of  Chatelherault,  Argyle,  Murray,  Morton,  and  Glencairn,  all  of 
whom  were  summoned  to  the  convention,  only  Morton  came.  KeMh. 

P.WT. 


(iUEE\    OF    SCOTS.  201 

train  of  friends  from  Perth  to  the  seat  of  Loud  Liv- 
ingston at  Callander,  the  baptism  of  one  of  whose 
children  she  had  promised  to  attend.  Murray  knew 
that  it  would  be  necessary  for  her  to  pass,  in  the 
course  of  this  journey,  through  several  steep  and 
wild  passes,  where  she  and  her  attendants  might, 
easily  be  overpowered.  At  what  precise  spot  the 
attack  was  to  be  made,  or  whether  that  was  not 
left  to  the  chapter  of  accidents,  does  not  appear. 
Knox,  who  was  of  course  too  stanch  a  Presby- 
terian directly  to  accuse  the  great  lay-head  of  his 
church  of  so  treasonable  a  design,  says  that  the 
path  of  Dron  (a  rugged  pass  about  three  miles  south 
of  Perth)  had  been  mentioned,  while  Sir  James 
Melville  and  others  point  out  the  kirk  of  Beith. 
which  stood  on  a  solitary  piece  of  ground,  between 
Dumfermline  and  the  Queensferry.  But  late  upon 
the  previous  Saturday  night  a  rumour  reached  Mary 
of  the  contemplated  plot.  To  prevent  its  execution, 
she  ordered  the  Earl  of  Athol  and  Lord  Ruthven  to 
collect  immediately  as  strong  a  body  of  men  as  pos- 
sible ;  and  through  their  exertions  she  left  Perth  next 
morning  at  five,  accompanied  by  three  hundred 
horsemen  well  mounted.  Murray  was  waiting  at 
Loch  Leven,  Argyle  at  Castle  Campbell,  Chatel- 
herault  at  his  house  of  Kinneil,  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  the  Queensferry,  and  Lord  Rothes,  who  had 
joined  in  the  conspiracy,  at  a  place  called  the  Parrot 
Well,  not  far  distant.  The  queen,  however,  to  their 
great  disappointment,  having  passed  over  the  ground 
on  which  they  intended  to  intercept  her,  both  much 
earlier  in  the  day,  and  much  more  strongly  guarded 
than  they  had  anticipated,  they  were  obliged  to 
remain  quiet ;  indeed  the  Earl  of  Argyle  did  not 
come  to  join  Murray,  till  two  hours  after  Mary  had 
ridden  through  Kinross.* 

*  Keith,  p.  291,  ef  seq. ;  Chalmers,  vol.  i.  p.  139,  et  seq.,  vol.  ii.  p 
HI ;  Tytler,  vol.  i.  p.  1,74,  et  seq.  Melrflle's  account  of  this  conspiracy 
IB,  that  Murrav  and  ')•••  "tlirr  lords  "  bad  made  i  mynt  to  tak  the  Lord 


20  LIFE    OF    MARY 

On  Mary's  return  to  Edinburgh  she  found  that  an 
attempt  had  been  made,  through  the  conjoined  in- 
fluence of  Knox  and  Murray,  to  stir  up  to  sedition 
some  of  the  more  bigoted  Presbyterians, — on  the  plea 
that  Darnley  favoured  popery.  Two  or  three  hun- 
dred of  the  malecontents,  or  brethren,  as  Knox  calls 
them,  assembled  at  St.  Leonard's  Hill,  and  their  mu- 
tinous proceedings  might  have  led  to  disagreeable 
consequences,  had  not  Mary  arrived  just  in  time  to 
'lisperse  and  overawe  them.*  Murray  and  his  asso- 
ciates, keeping  at  a  greater  distance,  held  some 
secret  meetings  at  Loch  Leven,  and  then  assembling 
at  Stirling  on  the  17th  of  July,  openly  raised  the 
standard  of  rebellion.  But  amid  all  these  troubles, 
Mary,  conscious  that  she  had  right  upon  her  side, 
remained  undaunted,  and  at  no  period  of  her  life 
did  her  strength  of  mind  appear  more  conspicuous. 
To  retain  that  confidence  which  she  knew  the  great 
majority  of  her  subjects  still  placed  in  her,  she  issued 
proclamations  announcing  her  determination  to  ab- 
stain, as  she  had  hitherto  done,  from  any  interference 
in  the  matter  of  religion ;  she  wrote,  with  her  own 
hand,  letters  to  many  of  her  nobles,  assuring  them 
of  the  integrity  of  her  intentions  ;  and  she  sent  re- 
quisitions to  all  upon  whom  she  could  depend,  calling 
on  them  to  collect  their  followers,  and  come  armed 
to  her  assistance. 

The  Earl  of  Murray,  on  the  other  hand,  having 
thrown  off  his  allegiance  to  his  own  sovereign,  be- 

Oarnley,  in  the  queen's  company,  at  the  raid  of  Baith,  and  to  have  sent 
him  in  England  as  they  allegit.  I  wot  not  what  was  in  their  minds,  but 
it  was  ane  evil-favoured  enterprise  wherelntil  the  queen  was  in  danger, 
either  of  keeping  (imprisonment)  or  heart-breaking ;  and  as  they  had 
(ailed  in  their  foolish  enterprise,  they  took  on  plainly  their  arms  of 
rebellion.'1  Melville,  p.  135.  There  is  some  reason  to  believe  that  Knox 
was  implicated  in  this  conspiracy;  for,  in  the  continuation  of  his 
History,  written  by  his  amanuensis,  Richard  Bannatyne,  under  the  au- 
thority of  the  general  assembly,  it  appears  that  a  Mr.  Hamilton, 
minister  of  St.  Andrews,  had  openly  accused  him  of  a  sha-e  in  it;  and 
though  Knox  noticed  the  accusation,  it  does  not  appear  that  he  eve> 
•tatis/actorily  refuted  it. — Goodall,  vol.  i.  p.  207. 
*  Keith,  p.  293  ;  Spottiswoode,  p.  190. 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  203 

came  entirely  subservient  to  the  wishes  and  com- 
mands of  Elizabeth.  He  and  his  friends  wrote  to 
request  that  she  would  send  them,  as  a  proof  of  her 
sincerity  in  the  cause,  the  sum  of  three  thousand 
pounds  to  meet  the  expenses  of  the  current  year ; 
and  they  would  thus  be  able,  they  imagined,  to  carry 
every  thing  be  fore  them,  unless  Mary  received  foreign 
assistance.  They  likewise  suggested  that  Lord 
Hume,  whose  estates  lay  on  the  borders,  and  who 
was  one  of  the  Scottish  queen's  most  faithful  ser- 
vants, should  be  harassed  by  some  ostensibly  acci- 
dental incursions ; — that  the  Bishop  of  Dumblane, 
who  was  to  be  sent  on  an  embassy  to  the  Continent, 
should  be  delayed  in  London  till  "  his  budgets  were 
rifled  by  some  good  slight  or  other;" — and  that  Both- 
vvell,  whom  Mary  was  about  to  recall,  to  obtain  his 
assistance  in  her  present  difficulties,  should  be  "  kept 
in  good  surety"  for  a  time.*  To  all  this  Elizabeth 
replied,  that  if  the  lords  suffered  any  inconvenience, 
"  they  should  not  find  lack  in  her  to  succour  them." 
She  hinted,  however,  that  the  less  money  they  asked 
the  better,  advising  them  "  neither  to  make  greater 
expense  than  their  security  makes  necessary,  noj 
less  which  may  bring  danger."  "  This  letter,"  says- 
Keith,  "is  an  evident  demonstration  of  the  English 
queen's  fomenting  and  supporting  a  rebellion  in  Scot- 
land ;  and  the  rebellious  lords  knew  too  well  what 
they  had  to  trust  to." 

One  can  hardly  attempt  to  unravel,  as  has  been 
done  in  the  preceding  pages,  the  secret  causes  which 
led  to  the  iniquitous  rebellion  now  organized,  with- 
out feeling  it  almost  a  duty  to  express  indignation 
both  at  the  malicious  interference  of  the  English 
queen,  and  the  overweening  ambition  and  ingrati- 
ude  of  the  Earl  of  Murray.  Mary's  conduct  since 
!ier  return  from  France  had  been  almost  unexcep- 
"onable.  The  only  fault,  she  had  committed,  and 

*  Keith  j>.  '294,  et  seq 

I.-Q 


204  LIFE    OF    MART 

the  necessity  of  the  times  force  d  it  on  her,  wan 
yielding  too  implicitly  to  the  counsels  of  her  brother. 
These  had  been  in  some  instances  judicious,  and  in 
others,  the  natural  severity  of  his  temper  had  been 
rebuked  by  the  mildness  of  Mary ;  so  that,  take  it 
for  all  in  all,  no  government  had  ever  been  more 
popular  in  Scotland  than  hers.  Her  choice  of  Lord 
Darnley  for  a  husband,  so  far  from  diminishing  the 
estimation  in  which  she  was  held  by  the  great  body 
of  her  subjects,  only  contributed  to  raise  her  in  their 
opinion.  For  the  sake  of  the  political  advantages 
which  would  result  to  her  country  from  this  alliance, 
she  was  willing  to  forego  much  more  splendid  offers; 
and,  though  the  imperfections  of  Damley's  character 
might  ultimately  be  the  means  of  destroying  her  own 
happiness,  his  birth  and  expectations  were  exactly 
such  as  gave  him  the  best  right  to  be  the  father  of 
James  VI.  Nor  could  his  religious  opinions  be  ob- 
jected to,  for,  whatever  they  were,  they  did  not 
influence  the  queen; — indeed,  ever  since  she  had 
known  him,  she  had  treated  the  Protestants  with 
even  more  than  her  usual  liberality.  At  the  baptism 
of  Lord  Livingston's  child,  she  remained  and  heard 
a  Protestant  sermon ;  and  about  the  same  time  she 
intimated  to  some  of  the  leaders  of  the  Reformers, 
that  though  she  was  not  persuaded  of  the  truth  of 
any  religion  except  of  that  in  which  she  had  been 
brought  up,  she  would  nevertheless  allow  a  con- 
ference and  disputation  on  the  Scriptures  in  her 
presence,  and  also  a  public  preaching  from  the 
mouth  of  Mr.  Erskine  of  Dun,  whom  she  regarded  as 
**  a  mild  and  sweet-natured  man,  with  true  honesty 
and  uprightness."*  All  these  things  considered,  one 
is  at  a  loss  to  conceive  how,  even  ir  these  restless 
times,  any  set  of  men  dared  to  en  *»  into  rebellion 
against  Mary.  But  the  selfish  and  insidious  policy 
•jf  Elizabeth, — the  jealousy  of  the  Duke  of  Chatel 

*  Keith,  p  397 


OF    SCOTS.  205 

herault,  in  whose  family  rested  the  succession  to  the 
Scottish  crown,  and  who  had  hoped  that  his  son 
Arran  might  have  obtained  Mary's  hand, — the  envy 
and  rage  of  the  Earl  of  Argyle,  who  had  been  oblifd 
to  surrender  to  Lennox  some  of  his  forfeited  estates 
— and,  above  all,  the  artful  and  grasping  spirit  of 
Murray,  solve  the  enigma.  Whatever  opinion  may 
be  entertained  of  Mary's  subsequent  proceedings  it 
appears  but  too  evident,  that  the  first  serious  troubles 
of  her  reign  were  forced  upon  her  in  spite  of  her  ut- 
most prudence,  by  the  intrigues  of  enemies  who 
were  only  the  more  dangerous,  because  they  had  for 
a  time  assumed  the  disguise  of  friends. 

Whatever  the  hopes  or  wishes  of  the  conspirators 
might  be,  Mary  resolved  that  they  should  not  long 
have  it  in  their  power  to  make  their  desire  to  pre- 
vent her  nuptials  a  pretext  for  continuing  in  arms. 
On  Sunday,  the  29th  of  July,  1565,  she  celebrated  her 
marriage  with  Darnley,  upon  whom  she  had  pre- 
viously conferred  various  titles,  and  among  others 
that  of  Duke  of  Albany.*  The  bans  of  matrimony 
were  proclaimed  in  the  Canongate  church,  the  palace 
of  Holyrood  being  in  that  parish ;  and,  as  Mary  and 
Uarnley  were  first  cousins,  a  Catholic  dispensation 
had  been  obtained  from  the  pope.  The  ceremony 
was  performed,  according  to  the  Catholic  ritual,  in 
the  chapel  of  Holyrood,  between  five  and  six  in  the 
morning — an  hour  which  appears  somewhat  strange 
to  modern  habits.  John  Sinclair,  dean  of  Restalrig, 
and  bishop  of  Brechin,  had  the  honour  of  presiding 
on  the  occasion.  It  was  generally  remarked,  that  a 
handsomer  couple  had  never  been  seen  in  Scotland. 
Mary  was  now  twenty-three,  and  at  the  very  height 
of  her  beauty,  and  Darnley,  though  only  nineteen, 

*  Buchanan  says,  foolishly  enough,  that  the  predictions  of  "  wizardly 
women"  contributed  much  to  hasten  this  marriage.  They  prophesied, 
it  seems,  that  if  it  was  consummated  before  the  end  of  July,  it  would 
»••  happy  for  both ;  if  not,  it  would  be  the  source  of  much  misery.  R  i» 
i  pit)  that  theae  predictions  were  not  true. 


206  LIFE    OF    MARY 

was  of  a  more  manly  person  and  appearance  than 
his  age  would  have  indicated.    The  festivities  were 
certainly  not  such  as  had  attended  the  queen's  first 
marriage,  for  the  elegancies  of  life  were  not  under- 
stood in  Scotland  as  in  France ;  and,  besides,  it  was 
a  time  of  trouble  when  armed  men  were  obliged  to 
stand  round  the  altar.     Nevertheless,  all  due  ob- 
servances and  rejoicings  lent  a  dignity  to  the  occa- 
sion.   Mary,  in  a  flowing  robe  of  black,  with  a  wide 
mourning  hood,  was  led  into  the  chapel  by  the  Earls 
of  Lennox  and  Athol,  who,  having  conducted  her  to 
the  altar,  retired  to  bring  in  the  bridegroom.    The 
bishop  having  united  them  in  the  presence  of  a  great 
attendance  of  lords  and  ladies,  three  rings  were  put 
upon  the  queen's  finger — the  middle  one  a  rich  dia- 
mond.   They  then  knelt  together,  and  many  prayers 
were  said  over  them.     At  their  conclusion,  Darnley 
kissed  his  bride,  and  as  he  did  not  himself  profess 
the  Catholic  faith,  left  her  till  she  should  hear  mass. 
She  was  afterward  followed  by  most  of  the  company 
to  her  own  apartments,  where  she  laid  aside  her 
sable  garments,  to  intimate,  that  henceforth,  as  the 
wife  of  another,  she  would  forget  the  grief  occa- 
sioned by  the  loss  of  her  first  husband.     In  observ- 
ance of  an  old  custom,  as  many  of  the  lords  as  could 
approach  near  enough  were  permitted  to  assist  in 
unrobing  her,  by  taking  out  a  pin.    She  was  then 
committed  to  her  ladies,  who,  having  attired  her 
with  becoming  splendour,  brought  her  to  the  ball- 
room, where  there  was  great  cheer  and  dancing  till 
dinner-time.    At  dinner,  Darnley  appeared  in  his 
loyal  robes;  and  after  a  great  flourish  of  trumpets, 
largess  was  proclaimed  among  the  multitude  who 
surrounded  the  palace.     The  Earls  of  Athol,  Morton, 
and  Crawfurd  attended  the  queen  as  sewer,  carver, 
and  cup-bearer ;  and  the  Earls  of  Eglinton,  Cassilis, 
and  Glencairn  performed  the  like  offices  for  Darn- 
ey.      When   dinner   was   over,  the   dancing  was 


UUJL:I:.\  OF  SCOTS.  207 

renewed  till  supper-time,  soon  after  which  the  com- 
pany retired  for  the  night.* 

The  rejoicings  that  attended  the  commencement 
of  Darnley's  career  as  King  of  Scotland  were  but  of 
short  duration.  Randolph,  expressing  the  senti- 
ments of  Elizabeth  and  the  rebels,  hesitated  not  to 
say,  that  "  God  must  either  send  the  king  a  short  end 
or  them  a  miserable  life ;  that  either  he  must  be  taken 
away  or  they  find  some  support,  that  what  he  intend- 
eth  to  others  may  light  upon  himself." 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

Murray's  Rebellion. 

MURRAY  had  now  gone  too  far  to  recede,  though 
had  he  been  so  inclined,  Mary's  leniency  would  wil- 
lingly have  given  him  the  opportunity.  Mr.  John 
Hay,  who  had  formerly  acted  as  her  ambassador  in 
England,  and  who  was  one  of  her  brother's  personal 
friends,  was  sent  to  him  to  declare  the  good-will 
which  both  the  Earl  of  Lennox  and  Darnley  bore 
towards  him.  Mary  even  avowed  her  readiness  to 
bring  to  trial  any  one  he  would  accuse  of  having 
conspired  against  his  life ;  but  he  had  no  evidence 
to  prove  that  such  a  conspiracy  had  ever  existed — 
much  less  to  fix  the  guilt  upon  any  individual.  He 
had  made  the  accusation  originally,  only  the  belter 
to  conceal  his  own  nefarious  purposes;  for  Mur- 
ray well  understood  the  practical  application  of 
Machiavel's  maxim:  " Calumniare  audacter  aliquid 
adhaerebit." 

*  Randolph  in  Robertson,  Appendix,  .No.  XI.;  Keith,  p  307:  Miw 
Benger,  rol.  ii.  p.  914. 


f 08  UFK    OF    MARY 

Acting  in  concert  with  this  nobleman,  Elizabeth 
now  sent  more  imperative  orders  than  before  for  the 
return  of  Lennox  and  Darnley.  But  the  former  an- 
swered, that,  considering  his  wife  had  been  commit- 
ted to  the  Tower  foi  no  fault  on  her  part,  he  thought 
it  unlikely  that  the  climate  of  England  would  suit 
his  constitution ;  and  the  latter  said,  boldly  and  gal- 
lantly, that  he  now  acknowledged  duty  and  obe- 
dience to  none  but  the  Queen  of  Scots,  whom  he 
served  and  honoured;  and  though  Elizabeth  chose 
to  be  envious  of  his  good  fortune,  he  could  not  dis- 
cover why  he  should  leave  a  country  where  he  found 
himself  so  comfortable.  Randolph  coolly  replied, 
that  he  hoped  to  see  the  wreck  and  overthrow  of  a§ 
many  as  were  of  fhe  same  mind ;  u  and  so,  turning 
my  back  to  him,  without  reverence  or  farewell,  1 
went  away."*  The  disaffected  lords,  on  their  part 
as  soon  as  they  heard  of  Mary's  marriage,  and  the 
proclamations  in  which  she  conferred  upon  her  hus- 
band the  rank  and  title  of  king,  renewed  their  com- 
plaints with  increased  bitterness.  The  majority  of 
their  countrymen,  however,  saw  through  their  real 
motives;  and  even  Knox  allows  it  was  generally 
alleged  that  these  complaints  were  "  not  for  religion, 
but  rather  for  hatred,  envy  of  sudden  promotion  01 
dignity,  or  such  worldly  causes."  The  recalling  of 
the  Earls  Bothwell  and  Sutherland,  and  the  restoring 
of  Lord  Gordon  to  the  forfeited  estates  and  honours 
of  his  father,  the  Earl  of  Huntly,  was  another  source 
of  exasperation.  From  the  tried  fidelity  of  these 
noblemen,  Mary  knew  she  could  depend  upon 
their  services ;  though  Bothwell,  personally,  as  we 
have  already  seen,  was  far  from  being  agreeable 
to  her. 

To  put  in  the  clearest  point  of  view  the  utter 
worthlessness  of  all  the  grounds  of  offence  which 

Keith,  p.  SOS  and  304.    This  was  a  day  or  two  before  Darnl«v  • 
marriage. 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  209 

Elizabeth  and  the  Scottish  rebels  pretended  at  this 
time  to  have  against  Mary,  a  short  and  impartial  ac- 
count of  a  message  sent  by  the  English  queen,  early 
in  August,  1565,  and  of  the  answer  it  received,  will 
be  read  here  with  interest.  The  person  who  brought 
this  message  was  one  of  Elizabeth's  inferior  officials, 
of  the  name  of  Tamworth,  "a  forward,  insolent 
man,"  says  Camden,  and,  with  marked  disrespect, 
chosen  for  this  very  reason.  He  was  ordered  not 
to  acknowledge  Darnley  as  king,  and  to  give  him  no 
title  but  that  which  he  had  borne  in  England ;  but 
Mary,  "  having  smelt,"  as  Camden  adds,  "  the  nature 
both  of  the  message  and  of  the  animal  that  brought 
it,"  would  not  admit  him  into  her  presence.  His 
objections  were  therefore  committed  to  writing,  and 
the  answer  given  in  similar  form.  On  the  part  of 
Elizabeth  it  was  stated,  that  her  majesty  had  found 
Mary's  late  proceedings,  both  towards  herself  and 
towards  her  subjects,  very  strange,  upon  diverse 
grounds.  These,  as  they  were  brought  forward,  so 
were  they  replied  to  methodically  and  seriatim. 
First,  Elizabeth  took  God  to  witness  that  her  offer 
to  Mary  of  any  of  her  own  subjects  in  marriage  was 
made  sincerely  and  lovingly;  and  that  she  was 
grieved  to  hear  that  Mary,  listening  to  false  counsel, 
had  been  made  to  think  otherwise.  To  this  it  was 
answered,  that  the  Queen  of  Scots  did  not  doubi 
Elizabeth's  sincerity  and  uprightness  in  her  offer 
of  a  husband  from  England,  and  that  no  counsel  had 
been  given  to  induce  her  to  change  her  opinion. 
Second,  Elizabeth  was  much  surprised,  that  notwith- 
standing the  offer  made  by  Mary  to  Sir  Nicolas 
Throckmorton  to  delay  her  marriage  till  the  middle 
of  August,  that  she  might  have  longer  time  to  prevail 
upon  Elizabeth  to  consent  to  it,  she  had  consum- 
mated that  marriage,  without  giving  her  majesty  any 
intimation,  on  the  29th  of  July,  and  had  thereby  dis- 
appointed both  Elizabeth  and  some  foreign  princes, 
who  thought  as  strangely  of  the  alliance  as  she  did 
31—14 


210  LIFE    OF    MARY 

To  this  it  was  answered,  that  it  was  true,  that 
though  Mary's  resolution  was  fixed  before  Sir  Nico- 
las Throckmorton  came  into  Scotland,  she  had  never- 
theless promised  to  delay  her  marriage,  in  the  hope 
that  the  doubts  entertained  by  Elizabeth  as  to  the 
propriety  of  the  said  marriage  might  in  the  mean 
time  be  removed ;  but  that  this  promise  was  made 
expressly  on  the  condition  that  commissioners  should 
be  appomtcd  on  both  sides  to  discuss  the  matter; 
and  that,  as  Elizabeth  refused  to  nominate  any  such 
commissioners,  Mary  was  relieved  from  her  promise ; 
that,  further,  she  had  good  reasons,  known  to  her- 
self and  her  own  people,  with  which  no  other  prince 
needed  to  interfere,  for  consummating  her  marriage 
at  the  time  she  did;  and  that  with  regard  to  foreign 
princes  tlunking  the  alliance  strange,  she  had  a  per- 
fect knowledge  of  the  opinions,  and  had  obtained  the 
express  consent  of  the  principal  and  greatest  princes 
in  Christendom.  Third,  Elizabeth  was  astonished 
how  Maiy,  in  direct  opposition  to  the  conditions  of 
the  treaty  of  peace  existing  between  England  and 
Scotland,  could  detain  her  majesty's  subjects,  Len- 
nox and  Darnley,  in  Scotland — having  allured  them 
thither  under  a  pretence  of  suits  for  lands,  but  in 
reality  to  form  an  alliance  without  her  majesty's 
consent  and  license, — an  offence  so  unnatural,  that 
the  world  spoke  of  it,  and  her  majesty  could  not 
forget  it.  To  this  it  was  answered,  that  Mary  mar- 
velled not  a  little  at  the  queen,  her  good  sister,  in- 
sisting any  further  upon  this  head ;  for  she  did  not 
understand  how  it  could  be  found  strange  that  she 
detained  within  her  realm  the  person  with  whom 
she  had  joined  herself  in  marriage,  or  a  Scottish 
earl,  whom  Elizabeth  herself  named  by  his  Scottish 
title — the  more  especially  as  they  both  came  to  her 
with  Elizabeth's  consent  and  letters  of  recommenda- 
tion; and  that  she  had  no  doubt  that  the  world 
spoke  as  sound  sense  would  dictate,  judging  that 
her  detaining  them  was  in  no  ways  prejudicial  to  any 


OUEEM    OF    SCOTS.  211 

treaty  of  peace  existing  between  the  two  vealms — • 
since  no  annoyance  was  intended  towards  Elizabeth, 
her  kingdom,  or  estate.  Fourth,  Elizabeth  won- 
dered that  Maiy's  ambassador,  Mr.  John  Hay,  came 
to  ask  to  be  informed  of  her  majesty's  objections  to 
the  marriage,  and  of  what  she  wished  to  be  done, 
but  had  no  authority  either  to  agree  to  or  refuse  her 
requests ;  and  she  therefore  supposed  that  he  had 
been  sent  more  as  a  piece  of  empty  form  than  foi 
any  useful  purpose.  To  this  it  was  answered,  that 
Mary,  though  willing  to  hear  Elizabeth's  objections, 
if  any  such  existed,  and  to  endeavour  to  remove 
them,  had  yet  expressly  declared  that  she  would 
make  such  endeavour  only  through  the  medium  of 
commissioners  mutually  agreed  on;  and  that  she 
was  still  so  convinced  of  the  expediency  of  the 
match,  that,  though  now  married,  she  was  still 
willing,  if  Elizabeth  wished  it,  to  have  its  propriety 
discussed  by  such  commissioners.  Fifth,  Elizabeth 
begged  that  an  explanation  might  be  given  of  a  sen- 
tence in  one  of  Mary's  French  letters,  which  she 
found  somewhat  obscured,  and  which  ran  thus :  "  Je 
n'estimerois  jamais  que  cela  vienne  de  vous,  et  sans 
en  chercher  autre  vengeance,  j'aurois  recours  a  tous 
les  princes  mes  allies  pour  avec  moi  vous  remon 
strer  ce  que  je  vous  suis  par  parentage.  Vous  savez 
assez  ce  que  vous  avez  resolu  sur  cela."  To  this  it 
was  answered,  that  Mary,  by  the  whole  of  her  letter, 
as  well  as  the  passage  in  question,  meant  no  other 
thing  but  to  express  her  desire  to  remain  in  perfect 
friendship  and  good  intelligence  with  the  queen  her 
sister,  from  whom  she  expected  such  treatment  as 
reason  and  nature  required  from  one  princess  to 
another,  who  was  her  cousin ;  and  that  if,  as  God 
forbid,  other  treatment  were  received,  which  Mary 
would  not  anticipate,  she  could  do  no  less  than  lay 
her  case  before  other  princes,  her  friends  and  allies. 
Sixth,  Elizabeth  was  grieved  to  see  that  Mary  en- 
couraged fugitives  and  offenders  from  England,  and 

r._  R 


212  LIFE    OF    MART 

practised  other  devices  within  her  majesty's  realm, 
and  that,  in  her  own  kingdom,  seduced  by  false 
counsellors  and  malicious  information,  slip  raised 
up  factions  among  the  nobility.  To  this  it  was  an- 
swered, that  if  the  Scottish  queen  really  wished  to 
offend  Elizabeth,  she  would  not  be  contented  with 
such  paltry  practices  as  those  she  was  accused  of 
towards  English  subjects ;  and  that,  with  regard  to 
her  proceedings  in  her  own  realm,  as  she  had  never 
interfered  with  Elizabeth's  order  of  government,  not 
thinking  it  right  that  one  state  should  have  a  finger 
in  the  internal  policy  of  another,  so  she  requested 
that  Elizabeth  would  not  meddle  with  hers,  but 
trust  to  her  discretion,  as  the  person  most  interested, 
to  preserve  peace  and  quietness.  Seventh,  Elizabeth 
warned  Mary  to  take  good  heed  that  she  did  not 
proceed  in  her  intention  to  suppress  and  extirpate 
the  religion  already  established  in  Scotland,  or  to 
effect  the  suppression  of  the  Reformed  faith  in  Eng- 
land ;  for  that  all  such  designs,  consultations,  intel- 
ligences, and  devices  should  be  converted  to  the 
peril  and  damage  of  those  that  advised  and  engaged 
in  them.  To  this  it  was  answered,  that  Mary  could 
not  but  marvel  at  Elizabeth's  fears  for  a  religion 
upon  which  no  innovation  had  ever  been  attempted, 
but  for  the  establishment  of  which  every  arrange- 
ment had  been  made  most  agreeable  to  her  Scottish 
subjects;  that  as  to  an  intention  to  interfere  with 
the  spiritual  faith  of  England,  she  never  heard  of  it 
before;  but  that,  if  any  practices  to  such  effect 
could  be  condescended  on,  they  should  instantly  be 
explained  and  altered ;  and  that,  with  regard  to  her 
designs,  consultations,  intelligences,  and  devices, 
such  as  she  really  engaged  in  would  be  found  no 
vainer  or  more  deceitful  than  those  of  her  neigh- 
bours. Eighth,  and  lastly,  Elizabeth  wished  that 
Mary  would  not  show  herself  so  given  to  change  as 
to  conceive  evil  of  the  Earl  of  Murray,  whose  just 
deserts  she  had  so  long  acknowledged ;  for  that  by 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  213 

indifference  and  severity  there  were  plenty  exam- 
ples to  prove  that  many  noblemen  had  been  con- 
strained to  take  such  measures  for  their  own  se- 
curity as  they  would  otherwise  never  have  resorted 
to;  and  that  these  were  part  of  the  reasons  why 
Elizabeth  was  offended  with  Mary.  To  this  it  was 
answered,  that  Mary  wished  her  good  sister  would 
not  meddle  with  the  affairs  of  her  Scottish  subjects 
any  more  than  Mary  meddled  with  the  affairs  of 
Elizabeth's  English  subjects ;  but  that,  if  Elizabeth 
desired  any  explanation  of  her  conduct  towards 
Murray,  it  would  be  willingly  given,  as  soon  as 
Elizabeth  explained  her  motives  for  committing  to 
the  Tower  Lady  Margaret,  Countess  of  Lennox, 
mother-in-law  and  aunt  of  Mary ;  and  that,  as  soon 
as  Elizabeth  stated  any  other  grounds  of  offence, 
they  should  be  answered  as  satisfactorily  as  the 
above  had  been.* 

Having  thus  triumphantly  replied  to  the  English 
queen's  irritating  message,  Mary,  in  the  true  spirit  of 
conciliation,  had  the  magnanimity  to  propose  that  the 
following  articles  should  be  mutually  agreed  upon. 
On  the  part  of  the  King  and  Queen  of  Scotland, — 
First,  That  their  majesties,  being  satisfied  of  the 
queen  their  sister's  friendship,  are  content  to  assure 
the  queen,  that  during  the  term  of  her  life,  or  that  of 
her  lawful  issue,  they  will  not,  directly  or  indirectly, 
attempt  any  thing  prejudicial  to  their  sister's  title  to 
the  crown  of  England,  or  in  any  way  disturb  the 
quietness  of  that  kingdom.  Second,  They  will  enter 
into  no  communication  with  any  subject  or  subjects 
of  the  realm  of  England,  in  prejudice  of  their  said 
sister  and  her  lawful  issue,  or  receive  into  their  pro- 
tection any  subjects  of  the  realm  of  England,  with 
whom  their  sister  may  have  occasion  to  be  offended. 
Third,  They  will  not  enter  into  any  league  or  con- 
federation with  any  foreign  prince,  to  the  hurt,  dam 

Keith,  Appendix,  No.  vii.  p  99,  et  §eq. 


214  LIFE    OF    MARY 

Age,  and  displeasure  of  the  queen  and  realm  ol  Eng- 
land. Fourth,  They  will  enter  into  any  such  league 
and  confederation  with  the  queen  and  realm  of  Eng- 
land, as  shall  be  for  the  weal  of  the  princes  and  sub- 
jects on  both  sides.  And,  Fifth,  They  will  not  go 
about  to  procure,  in  any  way,  alteration,  innovation, 
or  change  in  the  religion,  laws,  or  liberties  of  the 
realm  of  England,  though  it  should  please  God  at 
any  time  hereafter  to  call  them  to  the  succession  of 
that  kingdom.  In  consideration  of  these  offers,  the 
three  following  equally  reasonable  articles  were  to 
be  agreed  to  on  the  part  of  England : — First,  That 
by  act  of  parliament,  the  succession  to  the  crown, 
failing  Elizabeth  and  her  lawful  issue,  shall  be  es- 
tablished, first,  in  the  person  of  Mary  and  her  lawful 
issue,  and  failing  them,  in  the  person  of  the  Countess 
of  Lennox  and  her  lawful  issue,  as  by  the  law  of 
God  and  nature  entitled  to  the  inheritance  of  the  said 
crown.  Second,  That  the  second  offer  made  by  the 
King  and  Queen  of  Scotland  be  also  made  on  the  part 
of  England ;  and,  Third,  That  the  third  offer  shall 
be  likewise  mutual.  To  have  agreed  to  these  liberal 
articles  would  not  have  suited  Elizabeth's  policy,  and 
we  consequently  hear  nothing  further  concerning 
them. 

On  the  15th  of  August,  1565,  Murray  summoned  the 
rebellious  nobles  to  a  public  meeting  at  Ayr,  where 
it  was  resolved  that  they  should  assemble  together 
in  arms  on  the  24th.  Mary  in  consequence  issued 
proclamations,  calling  upon  her  loyal  subjects  to 
come  to  Edinburgh,  with  their  kin,  friends,  and  house- 
hold, and  provided  for  fifteen  days,  on  the  25th  of 
August.  On  that  day  she  left  Edinburgh  with  a  nu- 
merous force,  and  marched  to  Linlithgow.  Before 
leaving  the  capital,  measures  were  taken  to  prevent 
the  discontented  there  from  turning  to  advantage  the 
absence  of  their  sovereign.  The  provost,  who  was 
entirely  under  the  management  of  Knox,  and  strongly 
suspected  to  favour  the  rebels,  was  displaced,  and  a 


Ul  I'.K-V    OF    SCOTS.  315 

more  trustworthy  civic  officer  appointed  in  his  stead. 
Knox  himself,  a  few  days  before,  had  been  suspended 
from  the  discharge  of  his  clerical  duties,  in  conse- 
quence of  a  seditious  and  insulting  sermon  he  de- 
livered before  the  young  king,  who  paid  him  the 
compliment  of  attending  divine  service  in  St.  Giles's 
church,  a  Sunday  or  two  after  his  marriage.  In  this 
sermon  the  preacher,  among  other  things,  said,  that 
God  had  raised  to  the  throne  for  the  sins  of  the  peo- 
ple, boys  and  women  ;  adding,  in  the  words  of  Scrip- 
ture, "  I  will  give  children  to  be  their  princes,  and 
babes  shall  rule  over  them  :  children  are  their  op- 
pressors, and  women  rule  over  them."  In  the  same 
style  of  allusions  grossly  personal,  he  remarked,  that 
"  God  justly  punished  Ahab,  because  he  did  not  cor- 
rect his  idolatrous  wife,  the  harlot  Jezabel."  It  is 
singular  that  Knox  never  thought  of  objecting  to 
Mary's  marriage  with  Darnley,  till  he  found  that  his 
patron,  the  Earl  of  Murray,  to  whom  he  was  now 
reconciled,  did  not  approve  of  it.  He  had  said  only 
a  few  months  before  that  "The  queen  being  at 
Stirling,  order  was  given  to  Secretary  Lethington  to 
pass  to  the  Queen  of  England,  to  declare  to  that  queen, 
Mary  was  minded  to  marry  her  cousin,  the  Lord 
Darnley ;  and  the  rather,  because  he  was  so  near  of 
blood  to  both  queens;  for,  by  his  mother,  he  was 
cousin-german  to  the  Queen  of  Scotland,  also  of  near 
kindred  and  the  same  name  by  his  father; — his 
mother  was  cousin-german  to  the  Queen  of  England. 
Here,  mark  God's  providence :  King  James  V.,  having 
lost  his  two  sons,  did  declare  his  resolution  to  make 
the  Earl  of  Lennox  his  heir  of  the  crown;  but  he 
prevented  by  sudden  death,  that  design  ceased. 
Then  came  the  Earl  of  Lennox  from  France,  with 
intention  to  marry  King  James's  widow;  but  thai 
failed  also  :  he  marries  Mary  Douglas ;  and  his  son, 
Lord  Darnley,  marrieth  Queen  Mary,  King  James 
V.'s  daughter :  and  so  the  king's  desire  is  fulfilled, 
viz.  the  crown  continueth  in  the  name  and  in  thf; 


216  LIFE    OF    MARY 

family."  Knox  had  changed  his  opinion  (as  even 
Knox  could  sometimes  do),  both  when  he  preached 
the  above-mentioned  sermon,  and  when,  towards  the 
end  of  August,  1565,  he  said,  that  the  castle  of  Edin- 
ourgh  was  "shooting  against  the  exiled  for  Christ 
Jesus'  sake."* 

From  Linlithgow  Mary  advanced,  with  an  increas- 
ing force,  first  to  Stirling,  and  then  to  Glasgow. 
Here  she  was  within  a  short  distance  of  the  rebel 
army,  which,  mustering  about  1200  strong,  had  taken 
its  position  at  Paisley ;  "  a  fine  pleasant  village,** 
says  Keith,  "five  miles  W.S.W.  from  Glasgow." 
But  Murray,  not  venturing  to  attack  the  royalists. 
made  a  circuit  of  some  distance,  and,  by  a  forced 
march,  arrived  unexpectedly  at  Edinburgh,  where  he 
doped  to  increase  his  force.  In  this  hope  he  was 
grievously  disappointed.  Finding  that  the  provost, 
who  was  taken  by  surprise,  had  not  sufficient  strength 
to  keep  him  without  the  walls,  he  entered  the  city  by 
the  west  port,  and  immediately  despatched  messen- 
gers for  assistance  in  every  direction,  and,  by  beat  of 
drum,  called  upon  all  men  who  wished  to  receive  wages 
"  for  the  defence  of  the  glory  of  God"  to  join  his 
standard.  But  Knox  confesses  that  few  or  none  re- 
sorted to  him,  and  that  he  got  little  or  no  support  in 
Edinburgh ;  although  the  preacher  himself  did  all  he 
could  for  his  patron  by  prayers  and  exhortations,  ir 
which  he  denominated  the  rebels  "  the  best  part  of 
the  nobility,  and  chief  members  of  the  Congrega- 
tion.'^ The  truth  is,  that  the  current  of  populai 
opinion  ran  directly  in  favour  of  Mary ;  for  the  godly 
earl's  real  motives  were  well  understood. 

As  soon  as  the  queen  was  made  aware  that  she 
had  missed  her  enemies,  she  marched  back  in  pursuit 
of  them  at  the  head  of  5000  men,  as  far  as  Callander. 
Murray  could  only  fly  from  a  power  which  he  knew 

*  M'Crie's  Life  of  Knox,  rol.  li.  p.  100 ;  and  Tytler's  Inquiry  v  •   < 
p.  362  and  367. 

*  Knox  *  »*> 


QUKKN    OF    SCOTS.  217 

he  was  not  able  to  withstand.  Alarmed  by  Mary'g 
speedy  return,  he  left  Edinburgh,  and  again  passing 
her  on  the  road,  led  his  followers  to  Lanark  and  from 
thence  to  Hamilton.  With  indomitable  perseverance 
the  queen  retraced  her  steps  to  Glasgow,  expecting 
Murray  would  make  an  attempt  upon  that  city.  But 
finding  there  was  no  safety  for  him  in  this  part  of 
Scotland  he  suddenly  turned  off  towards  the  south, 
and  with  as  little  delay  as  possible  retired  into 
Dumfriesshire.  Here,  being  near  the  borders,  h.6 
expected  that  Elizabeth  would  send  him  succour 
from  England,  and  at  all  events  he  could  at  any  time 
make  good  his  retreat  into  that  country.  The  prin- 
cipal noblemen  with  him  were  the  Duke  of  Chatelhe- 
rault,  the  Earls  of  Argyle,  Glencairn,  and  Rothes, 
and  the  Lords  Boyd  and  Ochiltree.  Morton  and 
Maitland  remained  with  the  queen ;  but  the  fidelity 
of  both  is  much  to  be  suspected,  though  the  command 
of  the  main  body  of  the  royal  army  was  intrusted  to 
the  former.  The  Earl  of  Lennox  led  the  van,  and  the 
queen  herself  rode  with  her  officers  in  a  suit  of  light 
armour,  carrying  pistols  at  her  saddle-bow;  "her 
courage,"  says  Knox,  "  manlike,  and  always  in- 
creasing." She  did  not  think  it  worth  while  to  follow 
Murray  into  Dumfriesshire,  but  preferred  leading  hei 
army  through  Fife  to  St.  Andrews,  taking  possession 
on  the  way,  of  Castle  Campbell,  the  seat  of  the  rebe' 
lord  Argyle. 

Elizabeth  in  the  mean  time  was  far  from  being 
inattentive  to  the  interests  of  her  servants  in  Scot 
land.  Randolph  wrote  to  Cecil,  that  if  she  would 
assist  them  with  men  and  more  money,  he  doubted 
not  but  one  country  would  receive  both  the  queens 
by  which  he  meant,  that  the  rebels  would  thus  be 
able  to  fulfil  their  design  of  sending  Mary  prisonei 
nto  England.*  The  Earl  of  Bedford  informed  hi? 
mistress  of  the  arrival  of  her  friends  on  the  borders, 

'  Keith,  Appendix,  p  Qfi4. 


218  LIFE    OF    MARY 

and  hinted  to  her  that  their  cause  was  evidently  not 
very  popular  in  Scotland,  and  that  their  force  was 
much  inferior  to  that  of  Mary.  Elizabeth's  letter,  ir, 
answer,  is  as  artful  a  piece  of  writing  as  has  ever 
proceeded  even  from  a  female  pen.  Afraid  that  she 
might  go  too  far  in  assisting  the  losing  party,  she  re- 
solved to  make  it  be  believed  that  she  acted  against 
them,  while  in  truth  she  secretly  encouraged  and 
supported  them.  With  this  view  she  wrote  to  Bed- 
ford, that  in  consequence  of  his  representations  as 
well  as  those  of  Randolph  and  others,  she  sent  him 
three  thousand  pounds  ;  one  thousand  of  which  was 
to  be  paid  immediately  to  Murray  in  the  most  private 
way  possible,  and  as  if  it  came  from  Bedford  himself. 
The  remainder  was  to  be  kept  till  occasion  required 
its  expenditure.  "And  where  we  perceive,"  she 
continued,  "  by  your  sundry  letters,  the  earnest  re- 
quest of  the  said  Earl  of  Murray  and  his  associates, 
that  they  might  have  at  least  300  of  our  soldiers  to 
aid  them ;  and  that  you  also  write,  that  though  we 
would  not  command  you  to  give  them  aid,  yet  if  we 
would  but  wink  at  your  doing  herein,  and  seem  to 
blame  you  for  attempting  such  things  as  you  with 
the  help  of  others  should  bring  about,  you  doubt  not 
but  things  would  do  well, — we  are  content,  and  do 
authorize  you,  if  you  shall  see  it  necessary  for  their 
defence,  to  let  them  (as  of  your  own  adventure  and 
without  notification  that  you  have  any  direction 
therein  from  us)  to  have  the  number  of  300  soldiers, 
wherein  you  shall  so  precisely  deal  with  them  that 
they  may  perceive  your  care  to  be  such  as  if  it  should 
otherwise  appear,  your  danger  should  be  so  great 
as  all  the  friends  you  have  could  not  be  able  to  save 
you  towards  us.  And  so  we  assure  you  our  con- 
science moveth  us  to  charge  you  so  to  proceed  with 
them;  and  yet  we  would  not  that  either  of  these 
were  known  to  be  our  act,  but  rather  to  be  covered 
with  your  own  desire  and  attempt."  Having  further 
mentioned  that  she  had  written  lately  to  Mary,  to 


QUEEN    O*    SCOTS.  219 

assure  that  princess  of  her  esteem  and  good-will, 
Elizabeth  boldly  affixed  her  signature  to  this  nvumo- 
rable  record  of  unblushing  duplicity.* 

But  Mary  was  not  to  be  lulled  into  dangerous 
security.  All  her  operations  during  this  campaign 
were,  as  Robertson  has  remarked,  "  concerted  with 
wisdom,  executed  with  vigour,  and  attended  with 
success."  At  St.  Andrews  she  issued  a  proclama- 
tion, exposing  the  hollowness  of  the  grounds  upon 
which  arms  had  been  taken  up  against  her,  and 
showing  that  religion  was  only  made  a  cloak  to 
cover  other  more  ungodly  designs.  Alluding,  in 
particular,  to  the  Earl  of  Murray,  upon  whom  she 
had  bestowed  so  many  benefits,  this  proclamation 
stated  that  his  insatiable  ambition  was  not  to  be 
.satisfied  with  heaping  riches  upon  riches,  and  honour 
upon  honour,  unless  he  should  also  continue  to  have, 
as  he  had  too  long  had,  the  q^een  and  the  whole 
realm  in  his  own  hands,  to  be  used  and  governed  at 
his  pleasure.  "  By  letters  sent  from  themselves  to 
us,"  Mary  says,  "  they  make  plain  profession  that 
the  establishment  of  religion  will  not  content  them, 
but  we  must  perforce  be  governed  by  such  council 
as  it  shall  please  them  to  appoint  unto  us."  "  The 
like,"  she  adds,  "  was  never  demanded  of  any  our 
most  noble  progenitors  heretofore,  yea,  not  even  of 
governors  or  regents ;  but  the  prince  or  such  as  oc- 
cupied his  place,  ever  chose  his  council  of  such  as  he 
thought  most  fit  for  the  purpose.  When  we  our- 
selves were  of  less  age,  and  at  our  first  arrival  in  our 
realm,  we  had  free  choice  of  our  council  at  our  plea- 
sure ;  and  now,  when  we  are  at  oui  full  majority 
shall  we  be  brought  back  to  the  state  of  pupils  and 
minors,  or  be  put  under  tutelage  ?  So  long  as  some 
of  them  bore  the  whole  swing  with  us  themselves, 
this  matter  was  never  called  in  question ;  but  now, 
when  they  cannot  be  longer  permitted  to  do  and  undo 

*  Robertson,  Appendix  to  vol.  i.  Nos.  XII.  and  XIII 


220  LIFE    OF    MARY 

all  things  of  tneir  appetite,  they  will  put  a  bridle  in 
our  mouths,  and  give  us  a  council  chosen  after  their 
phantasy !  To  speak  it  in  plain  language,  they  would 
be  king  themselves ;  or,  at  the  least,  leaving  to  us  the 
bare  name  and  title,  take  to  themselves  the  whole  use 
and  administration  oi  the  kingdom."* 

After  levying  a  small  fine  of  two  hundred  marks 
from  the  town  of  Dundee,  which  had  given  some 
countenance  to  the  malecontents,  Mary  and  Darnley 
returned  to  Edinburgh.  They  there  received  such 
accounts  of  the  increasing  strength  of  the  rebels  as 
induced  them  to  determine  on  marching  southwards. 
Biggar  was  named  as  the  place  of  rendezvous  foi 
the  lieges ;  and  they  flocked  in  such  crowds  to  join 
the  standard  of  their  sovereign,  that  the  queen  was 
enabled  to  advance  towards  the  borders  at  the  head 
of  an  army  of  18,000  men.  Before  this  greatly  su- 
perior force  Murray  and  his  partisans^including  his  300 
English  soldiers,  retired  to  Carlisle.  He  was  closely 
followed  thither,  upon  which  his  troops  dispersed 
and  he  himself  and  his  friends  sought  refuge  by  fly- 
ing farther  into  England.  Mary,  after  visiting  the 
castle  of  Lochmaben,  left  Bothwell  with  some  troops 
to  watch  the  borders ;  and  on  the  18th  of  October 
returned  to  Edinburgh  with  the  rest  of  her  army.f 

Of  the  rebellious  nobles  thus  forced  into  exile,  tht 
Duke  of  Chatelherault  alone  was  able  or  willing  to 
make  his  peace  immediately.  He  and  his  sons  wen 
pardoned  on  condition  of  their  living  abroad ;  a  de- 
gree of  leniency  extended  to  them  by  Mary,  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  wishes  of  the  house  of  Lennox,  which 
was  anxious  for  the  entire  ruin  of  the  Hamiltons.l 
Murray  and  the  rest  being  kindly  received  by  Bed- 
ford, fixed  their  residence  at  Newcastle,  whence  the 
earl  himself  and  the  abbot  of  Kilwinning  were  de- 
puted to  proceed  to  the  English  court,  and  lay  the 

*  Keith,  Appendix,  p.  114. 

t  Keith,  p.  316 ;  and  Chalmers,  vol.  i.  p.  156 

I  Chalmers,  vol.  i.  p.  156. 


QUKKN    OF    SCOTS.  221 

state  of  their  affairs  before  Elizabeth,  upon  whose 
patronage  they  conceived  they  had  peculiar  claims. 
It  wab,  however,  no  part  of  Elizabeth's  policy  to  be- 
friend in  their  adversity  those  with  whom  she  had 
associated  herself  in  more  prosperous  days.  As 
.soon  as  she  heard  that  Murray  was  on  his  way  to 
her  court,  she  wrote  to  stop  him,  and  to  inform  him 
that  it  was  not  meet  for  him  to  have  any  "  open 
dealing"  with  her.  But  at  Bedford's  earnest  entreaty 
he  was  allowed  to  continue  his  journey,  the  object 
of  which  he  said  was  to  make  some  proposals  for  the 
"common  cause."*  It  was,  nevertheless,  a  long 
while  before  he  could  obtain  an  audience  of  the 
queen ;  and  when  that  honour  was  at  length  conceded 
to  him,  she  had  the  confidence  to  ask  him  with  an 
unruffled  countenance,  how  he,  being  a  rebel  to  her 
sister  of  Scotland,  durst  have  the  boldness  to  come 
within  her  realm?  Murray,  in  reply,  ventured  to 
speak  of  the  support  he  had  all  along  received  from 
her;  but  as  this  was  betraying  her  policy  to  her 
Continental  neighbours,  it  exasperated  her  to  such  u 
degree,  that  she  declared  he  and  his  friends  should 
never  obtain  any  thing  from  her  but  scorn  and 
neglect,  unless  he  made  a  public  recantation  of  such 
an  assertion.  With  this  demand  both  the  earl  and 
the  abbot  had  the  meanness  to  comply ;  and  though 
Sir  Nicolas  Throckmorton  interfered  in  their  be- 
half, and  openly  avowed  that  he  had  been  sent  into 
Scotland  expressly  to  make  offers  of  assistance  to 
the  rebel  lords,  he  could  not  save  them  from  the 
degradation  which  Elizabeth  inflicted.  They  ap- 
peared before  her  when  she  was  surrounded  by  th»- 
French  and  Spanish  ambassadors,  and  impiously 
affirmed,  upon  their  knees,  that  her  majesty  had 
never  moved  them  to  any  opposition  or  resistance 
against  their  own  queen.  As  soon  as  they  ha(^ 
uttered  this  falsehood  Elizabeth  said  to  them,  "  Now 

Chalmers,  vol  i  p.  157;  and  Keith,  p.  319. 


222  LIFE    OF    MARY 

ye  have  told  the  truth ;  for  neither  did  I  nor  any  in 
my  name  stir  you  up  against  your  queen.  Youi 
abominable  treason  may  serve  for  example  to  my  own 
subjects  to  rebel  against  me.  Therefore,  get  ye  out 
of  my  presence ;  ye  are  but  unworthy  traitors."* 

Sir  James  Melville,  speaking  of  this  affair,  says, 
with  his  usual  quaintness,  that  "  Mary  chasit  the  rebel 
lords  here  and  there,  till  at  length  they  were  compellit 
to  flee  into  England  for  refuge,  to  her  that  had  prom- 
ised, by  her  ambassadors,  to  wair  (expend)  her  croun 
in  their  defence,  in  case  they  were  driven  to  any  strait 
for  their  opposition  to  the  said  marriage." — "  But 
Elizabeth,"  he  adds,  "  handlit  the  matter  sae  subtilly 
and  the  other  twa  sae  blaitly,  that  she  triumphed  both 
over  them  and  the  ambassadors."  The  deputation 
returned  quite  chop-fallen  to  their  friends  at  New- 
castle, where  they  lived  for  some  time  in  great  pov- 
erty, and  very  wretchedly.  Such  were  the  more 
immediate  results  of  this  piece  of  juggling  on  the 
part  of  Elizabeth,  and  justly  unsuccessful  rebellion 
on  that  of  Murray. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

The  Earl  of  Morten's  Plot. 

HITHERTO  Mary's  government  had  been  prosperous 
and  popular.  Various  difficulties  had,  no  doubt,  sur- 
rounded her ;  but,  by  a  prudence  and  perseverance 
beyond  her  sex  and  age,  she  had  so  successfully  en- 
countered them,  that  she  fixed  herself  more  firmly 
than  ever  on  the  throne  of  her  ancestors.  The  mis- 
fortunes, however,  in  which  all  the  intrigues  of  her 
enemies  vainly  attempted  to  involve  her,  it  was  Mary's 
fate  to  bring  upon  herself  by  an  act  innocent  in  sc 

*  Keith,  p.  319;  Melville,  p.  135 


OF    SCOTS.  223 

far  as  regarded  her  own  private  feelings,  and  praise* 
worthy  in  its  intention  to  increase  and  secure  the 
power  and  happiness  of  her  country.  This  act  was 
her  marriage  with  Darnley.  From  this  fatal  con- 
nexion all  Mary's  miseries  took  their  origin ;  and  as 
the  sunshine  which  has  as  yet  lighted  heron  her  course 
begins  to  gleam  upon  it  with  a  sicklier  ray,  they  who 
have  esteemed  her  in  the  blaze  of  her  prosperity 
will  peruse  the  remainder  of  her  melancholy  story 
with  a  deeper  and  a  tenderer  interest.  Let  it  at  the 
same  time  be  remembered,  that  the  present  Memoirs 
come  not  from  the  pen  of  a  partisan,  but  are  dictated 
by  a  sacred  desire  to  discover  and  preserve  the 
truth.  Mary's  weaknesses  shall  not  be  concealed ; 
but  surely,  while  the  common  frailties  of  humanity 
thus  become  the  subjects  of  history,  justice  imposes 
the  nobler  and  the  more  delightful  duty  of  asserting 
the  talents  and  vindicating  the  virtues  of  Scotland's 
fairest  queen. 

It  was  evident  that  public  affairs  could  not  long 
continue  in  the  position  in  which  they  now  stood. 
With  the  Earl  of  Murray  and  the  Hamiltons,  the 
greater  number  of  Mary's  most  experienced  coun- 
sellors were  in  a  state  of  banishment.  At  the  head 
of  those  who  remained  was  the  crafty  Earl  of  Mor- 
ton, who,  though  he  affected  outward  allegiance, 
secretly  longed  for  the  return  of  his  old  allies  and 
friends  of  the  Protestant  party.  It  was  not,  indeed, 
without  some  show  of  reason  that  the  professors  of 
the  Reformed  faith  considered  their  religion  to  be 
exposed  at  the  present  crisis  to  hazard.  The  king 
now  openly  supported  Popery;  the  most  powerful 
of  the  lords  of  the  Congregation  were  in  disgrace; 
several  of  the  Catholic  nobility  had  lately  been  re- 
stored to  their  honours ;  some  of  the  Popish  ecclesi- 
astics had  by  Mary's  influence  been  allowed  to  resume 
their  place  in  parliament ;  and,  above  all,  ambassa- 
dors arrived  from  the  French  king  and  her  Continenta. 
friends,  for  the  express  purpose  of  advising  the  queen 


324  LIFE    OF    MARY 

to  grant  no  terms  to  the  expatriated  nobles,  and  oi 
making  her  acquainted  with  the  objects  of  the  Holy 
League  which  had  been  recently  formed.  This  was 
the  league  between  Charles  IX.  and  his  sister  the 
Queen  of  Spain,  with  the  consent  of  her  husband 
Philip,  and  Pope  Pius  IV.,  and  at  the  instigation  of 
Catharine  de  Medicis  and  the  Duke  of  Alva,  to  se- 
cure at  whatever  cost  the  suppression  of  the  Reforma- 
tion throughout  Europe.  So  great  a  variety  of  cir- 
cumstances all  seeming  to  favour  the  old  superstition 
alarmed  the  Protestants  not  a  little ;  but  this  alarm 
was  unnecessarily  exaggerated,  and  Mary's  inten- 
tions, which  were  not  known  at  the  time,  have  been 
misrepresented  since. 

Robertson  has  asserted  that  Mary  "instantly 
joined"  the  Continental  confederacy,  and  was  willing 
to  go  any  length  for  the  restoration  of  Popery.  He 
would  thus  have  us  believe  that  she  was  a  direct  party 
to  the  horrible  massacre  of  the  Hugonots  in  France ; 
and  that  she  would  have  spared  no  bloodshed  to  re- 
establish in  Scotland  that  form  of  worship  which  she 
herself  in  conjunction  with  her  parliament  had  ex- 
pressly abrogated.  Robertson  goes  further,  and 
maintains,  with  a  degree  of  absurdity  so  glaring  that 
we  are  at  a  loss  to  understand  why  it  should  never 
before  have  been  exposed,  that  "  to  this  fatal  resolu 
tion  (that  of  joining  the  anti-protestant  confederacy) 
may  be  imputed  all  the  subsequent  calamities  of 
Mary's  life."  Why  a  secret  contract  which  Mary 
might  have  made  with  an  ambassadoi  from  France, 
the  terms  or  effects  of  which  were  never  known  or 
felt  in  any  corner  of  Scotland,  should  have  produced 
"  all  her  subsequent  calamities,"  must  remain  an 
enigma  to  those  who  do  not  possess  the  same  re- 
markable facility  of  tracing  effects  to  their  causes 
which  seems  to  have  been  enjoyed  by  Dr.  Robertson. 
But  it  is  extremely  doubtful  that  Mary  ever  gave 
either  her  consent  or  approbation  to  this  league. 
Robertson's  authorities  upon  the  subject  by  no  means 


<*UEEN    OK    SCOTS.  225 

bear  him  out  in  his  assertions.  He  affirms,  that "  she 
allowed  mass  to  be  celebrated  in  different  parts  of  the 
kingdom ;  and  declared  that  she  would  have  mass  free 
for  all  men  who  would  he'ar  it."  But  the  first  part 
of  this  information  is  supplied  by  the  Englishman 
Bedford,  who  was  not  then  in  Scotland,  and  the 
second  rests  upon  the  authority  of  the  insidious  Ran- 
dolph. Robertson  likewise  mentions,  that  Black- 
wood,  in  his  "  Martyre  de  JWime,"  says,  "  that  the 
queen  intended  to  have  procured  in  the  approaching 
parliament,  if  not  the  re-establishment  of  the  Catho- 
lic religion,  at  least  something  for  the  ease  of  Catho- 
lics." But  this  announcement  of  what  was  intended 
is  so  very  unimportant,  that  even  if  true  it  requires 
no  refutation ;  the  more  especially,  as  Blackwood 
goes  on  to  say,  though  Robertson  stops  short,  that 
this  M  something  for  the  ease  of  Catholics"  was  only 
to  be  a  request  that  the  Protestants  would  be  more 
tolerant.*  Robertson  however  adds,  that  "Mary 
herself,  in  a  letter  to  the  Archbishop  of  Glasgow, 
her  ambassador  in  France,  acknowledges  'that  in 
that  parliament  slic  intended  to  have  done  some  good 
with  respect  to  restoring  the  old  religion.1 "  For  this 
quotation  from  Mary's  letter  Robertson  refers  to 
Keith ;  but  upon  making  the  reference,  it  will  be  found 
that  he  has  somewhat  unaccountably  garbled  the 
original.  All  that  Mary  wrote  to  her  ambassador 
concerning  the  parliament  was,  that  "  the  spiritual 
estate  is  placed  therein  in  the  ancient  manner,  tend- 
ing to  have  done  some  good  anent  restonng  the  old 
religion,  and  to  have  proceeded  against  our  rebels 
according  to  their  demerits."!  The  different  shade 
of  meaning  which  Robertson  has  given  to  this  pas- 
sage is  rather  singular. 

Havingthus  seen  the  weakness  of  these  preliminary 
arguments  against  Mary's  willingness  to  countenance 
the  Reformed  faith,  it  only  remains  to  be  inquired, 

**1 15      «  Blackwood  in  Jebb,  vol.  ii  p.  304. 
t  Keith,  p.  331. 


229  LIFE    OF    MART 

whether  she  was  a  party  to  the  confederacy  formed 
at  Bayonne.  It  will  be  recollected,  that  the  measures 
concocted  by  this  confederacy  were  of  the  most  san- 
guinary and  savage  description.  It  was  resolved, 
"by  treacb  ry  and  circumvention,  by  fire  and  the 
sword,  uttfc/ly  to  exterminate  the  Protestants  over 
Christendom."  It  might  very  fairly  be  asked,  and 
the  question  would  carry  with  it  its  own  answer, 
whether  such  a  scheme,  uncertain  as  its  results  were, 
and  sure  to  produce  in  the  mean  time  civil  war  and 
confusion  wherever  its  execution  was  attempted,  was 
at  all  consistent  either  with  Mary's  established  policy, 
or  her  so  earnestly  cherished  hopes  of  succession  to 
the  English  crown  ?  Robertson,  however,  says, "  she 
instantly  joined  the  confederacy ;"  and  Dr.  Gilbert 
Stuart,  an  historian  of  greater  research  and  more 
impartiality,  allows  himself  to  believe  the  same  thing. 
These  writers  ground  their  belief  on  what  they  have 
found  in  Sir  James  Melville  and  in  Keith.  But  the 
former  gives  us  not  the  slightest  reason  to  suppose 
that  Mary  had  any  thing  to  do  with  the  league, 
although  he  allows  that  the  representations  of  the 
French  ambassador  tended  to  harden  her  heart  to- 
wards the  Earl  of  Murray  and  the  other  rebels.*  It 
would  even  appear,  by  his  Memoirs,  that  Mary  was 
never  asked  to  become  a  party  to  the  confederacy  ; 
for  Sir  James  simply  states  that  the  ambassadors  came 
"  with  a  commission  to  stay  the  queen  in  nowise  to 
agree  with  the  lords  Protestants  that  were  banished." 
Conaeus,  in  his  Life  of  Mary,  leaves  entirely  the  same 
impression,  and  rather  strengthens  it.f  As  to  Keith, 
he  nowhere  goes  the  length  of  Robertson  or  Stuart, 
— merely  remarking  that  the  letters  from  France 
tended  much  to  hinder  the  cause  of  the  banished 
lords.  He  gives,  it  is  true,  in  his  appendix,  an  ex- 
tract of  a  letter  from  Randolph  to  Cecil,  in  which  we 
find  it  stated,  on  the  very  dubious  authority  of  the 

*  Melville's  Memoirs,  p.  147  t  CODMB  in  Jebb,  vol.  ii.  p.  M. 


QU'BEN    OF    SCOTS.  227 

English  resident,  that  the  "  ban  to  introduce  Popery 
through  all  Christendom  was  signed  by  Queen 
Mary."  But  if  Mary  had  actually  done  so,  it  would 
have  been  with  the  utmost  secrecy,  and  surely,  above 
all,  she  would  have  concealed  such  a  step  from  the 
spy  of  Elizabeth.  This  letter  is  given  at  full  length 
by  Robertson ;  and  on  perusing  the  whole,  it  ex- 
pressly appears  that  Randolph  spoke  only  from 
liearsay ;  for  he  adds,  "  If  the  copy  of  his  ban  may 
be  gotten,  it  shall  be  sent  as  I  conveniently  may." 
In  the  same  letter  he  mentions  that  most  of  the  nobles 
had  been  asked  to  attend  mass,  in  compliment  to  the 
foreign  ambassadors,  and  that  they  had  all  refused  ; 
enumerating,  among  others,  Fleming,  Livingstone, 
Lindsay,  Huntly,  and  Bothwell ;  "  and  of  them  all, 
Bothwell  is  the  stoutest,  but  worst  thought  of." 
These  lords  must  have  had  little  dread  of  the  conse- 
quences, else  they  would  not  have  ventured  to  refuse. 
The  truth  is,  Randolph's  common  practice  was,  to 
convert  into  a  fact  every  report  which  he  knew  would 
be  agreeable  to  Cecil  and  his  mistress  ;  and  so  little 
reliance  did  they  place  upon  the  accuracy  of  his  in- 
formation that  it  does  not  appear  Elizabeth  ever  took 
any  notice  of  his  statement  regarding  the  ban,  which 
she  would  eagerly  have  done  had  it  been  true.  So 
much,  therefore,  for  Robertson's  declaration,  that "  to 
this  fatal  resolution  may  be  imputed  all  the  subse- 
quent calamities  of  Mary's  life."  They  would  have 
been  few,  indeed,  had  they  taken  their  origin  in  any 
countenance  she  gave  to  the  ferocious  wickedness 
of  Continental  bigotry.* 

*  Or.  Stuart,  in  support  of  his  statements  on  this  subject,  quotes,  in 
addition  to  the  authorities  already  mentioned,  Mezeray.  "Histoire  de 
France,"  tome  iii.,  and  Thuanus,  "Historia  sni  Tempori8,niib.  xxxvii.  But 
we  suspect  he  has  done  so  at  random ;  for  on  referring  to  these  works,  we 
have  been  unable  to  discover  any  thing  which  bears  upon  the  matter.  Chal- 
mers, who  is  in  general  acute  and  explicit  enough  says  that  these  ambas- 
sadors came  "  to  advise  the  queen  not  to  pardon  the  expatriated  nobles  ;" 
vol.  ii.  p.  158.  Laing,  who  writes  with  so  mi  ch  apparent  candour  and 
real  ability  against  Mary  that  he  almost  makes  "  the  worse  appear  the 
better  reason,''  has  avoided  falling  into  the  gross  error  of  Robertson 

I— S 


228  LIFE    OF    MARY 

There  does  not,  then,  exist  a  shadow  of  proof  that 
Mary  contemplated  the  subversion  of  the  Reformed 
religion  in  Scotland,  though  it  may  safely  be  admitted 
that  she  was  greatly  perplexed  what  course  to  pur- 
sue towards  the  expatriated  rebels.  On  the  one  hand, 
Elizabeth  petitioned  in  their  behalf,  well  knowing  she 
could  depend  on  their  co-operation  as  soon  as  they 
were  again  in  power;  and  her  petition  was  warmly 
supported  by  Murray's  friends  in  Scotland, — some 
for  the  sake  of  religion, — many  for  their  own  private 
interests, — and  a  few  because  they  believed  his  re- 
turn would  be  for  the  good  of  the  country.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  Catholic  party  was  delighted  to  be 
rid  of  such  formidable  adversaries,  and  their  wishes 
were  enforced  by  those  of  Mary's  uncle,  the  Cardinal 
of  Lorraine.  Besides,  though  disposed  to  be  lenient 
almost  to  a  fault,  she  cannot  but  have  felt  just  indig- 
nation against  men  who  had  so  grossly  abused  her 
kindness,  and  insulted  her  authority.  It  was  in  the 
midst  of  these  contending  opinions  and  interests,  that 
a  parliament  was  summoned,  first  for  the  4th  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1566,  and  afterward  prorogued  till  the  7th  of 
March,  at  which  it  was  determined  that,  in  one  way 
or  other,  the  subject  should  be  set  at  rest.  The  mat- 
ter would  then  most  probably  have  terminated  un- 
favourably for  Murray,  had  not  the  whole  affair  as- 
sumed a  new  feature,  and  been  hurried  on  to  an  un- 
expected and  violent  conclusion,  under  influences  on 
which  it  would  have  been  difficult  to  have  calculated. 

Mary  had  been  Darnley's  wife  only  a  few  months, 
when  a  painful  conviction  was  forced  upon  her  of  the 
error  she  had  committed  in  so  far  as  regarded  her 
own  happiness,  in  uniting  her  fortunes  with  a  youth 
so  weak,  headstrong,  and  inexperienced.  The  hom- 

"It  would  be  unjust"  he  says,  "to  suppose,  that,  upon  acceding  to  the 
Holy  League,  for  the  preservation  of  the  Catholic  faith,  she  was  apprized 
of  the  full  extent  of  the  design  to  exterminate  the  Protestants  by  a  gene- 
ral massacre  throughout  Christendom ;  but  the  instructions  from  her 
ancle  rendered  her  inexorable  towards  the  banished  lords." — 
Preliminary  Dissertation,  to  <*«  History  of  Scotland,  vol.  L  p.  ft. 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  229 

age,  whether  real  or  affected,  which  before  his  mar- 
riage Darnley  paid  to  Mary, — his  personal  graces  and 
accomplishments, — and  the  care  he  took  to  keep  as 
much  as  possible  in  the  background  the  numerous 
defects  of  his  character,  had  succeeded  in  securing 
for  him  a  place  in  Mary's  heart,  and,  what  he  consid- 
ered of  greater  importance,  a  share  of  her  throne- 
But  as  soon  as  the  object  of  his  ambition  was  obtained 
the  mask  was  thrown  aside.  He  broke  out  into  a 
thousand  excesses, — offended  almost  all  the  nobility, 
—and  forgetting  or  misunderstanding  the  kind  of 
men  he  had  to  deal  with,  cherished  a  wild  and  boy- 
ish desire  to  make  his  own  will  law.  He  changed 
from  the  Protestant  to  the  Catholic  religion ;  but  the 
Catholics  had  no  confidence  in  him,  while  John 
Knox  and  the  Reformers  lifted  up  their  voices  loudly 
against  his  apostacy.  He  was  addicted  to  great  in- 
temperance in  his  pleasures ;  was  passionately  fond 
of  his  hounds  and  hawks,  grossly  licentious,  and  much 
given  to  drinking.  Upon  one  occasion,  his  indul- 
gence in  this  latter  vice  made  him  so  far  forget  him- 
self, that  at  a  civic  banquet  where  the  queen  and  he 
were  present,  he  dared  to  speak  to  her  so  brutally, 
that  she  left  the  place  in  tears.* 

But  there  were  other  causes  besides  the  imperfec- 
tions of  Damley's  character  which  served  to  sow 
dissension  between  him  and  his  young  wife.  It 
would  be  wrong  to  say  that  they  were  mutually  jea- 
lous of  each  other's  love  of  power,  for  this  would 
be  to  put  Mary,  who  was  queen  in  her  own  right, 
on  an  equality  with  her  husband,  who  had  no  title 
to  any  authority  beyond  what  she  chose  to  confer 
on  him.  In  the  first  ardour  of  her  affection,  how- 
ever, she  permitted  him,  with  the  confiding  gene- 
rosity of  sincere  attachment,  to  carry  every  thing  his 
own  way ;  and  he  was  too  conceited  and  selfish  to 
appreciate  as  it  deserved  the  value  of  the  trust  she 
thus  reposed  in  him.  "  All  honour,"  says  Randolph. 

*  Keith.  D.  328  and  328. 


230  LIFE    OF    MART 

"  that  may  be  attributed  unto  any  man  by  a  wife,  he 
hath  it  wholly  and  fully, — all  praise  that  may  be 
spoken  of  him,  he  lacketh  not  from  herself, — aU 
dignities  that  she  can  endow  him  with  are  already 
given  and  granted.  No  man  pleaseth  her  that  con- 
tenteth  not  him.  And  what  may  I  say  more  ]  She 
hath  given  over  unto  him  her  whole  will,  to  be  ruled 
and  guided  as  himself  best  liketh."*  This  was 
nothing  more  than  the  conduct  naturally  to  be  ex 
pected  from  a  woman  who  warmly  loved  her  husband, 
and  who,  in  the  ingenuous  integrity  of  her  heart, 
believed  him  worthy  of  her  love.  Had  this  indeed 
been  the  case,  no  evil  consequences  could  have  re- 
sulted from  the  excess  of  kindness  she  lavished  on 
him  ;  but  with  all  his  fair  exterior,  Darnley  was  in- 
capable  of  understanding  or  estimating  aright  the 
mind  and  dispositions  of  Mary  Stuart.  Had  he  even 
in  part  answered  the  expectations  she  had  formed  of 
him, — had  he  listened  to  the  prudent  counsels  of  Sir 
James  Melville,  and  others  whom  Mary  requested  he 
would  associate  near  his  person, — and  had  he  con- 
tinued those  affectionate  attentions  which  she  had  a 
right  to  expect,  but  had  far  too  proud  a  spirit  to  ask, 
he  might  have  obtained  from  her  every  honour  he 
desired.  But  what  she  felt  that  slighted  love  did  not 
call  upon  her  to  yield  it  was  in  vain  to  expect  to  win 
from  her  by  force  or  fear ;  and  the  consequence  was, 
that  about  this  time,  what  was  technically  termed 
the  crown-matrimonial  became  a  great  source  of  dis- 
sension between  herself  and  her  husband. 

On  the  day  that  Mary  gave  her  hand  to  Darnley, 
she  conferred  upon  him  the  title  of  King  of  Scotland; 
and  his  name  in  all  public  writs  was  signed,  in  some 
before  and  in  others  after  her  own.  The  public  coin 
of  the  realm  issued  subsequent  to  the  marriage  also 
contained  his  name.f  But  though  Darnley  had  the 

*  Goodall,  rol.  i.  p.  222. 

t  Several  of  these  pennies,  as  they  were  called,  both  of  gold  and  silver, 
remain  to  this  day ;  and  some  of  them  have  been  already  noticed.  In 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  231 

title,  and  to  a  certain  extent  the  authority  of  a  king, 
it  was  never  Mary's  intention  to  surrender  to  him  an 
influence  in  the  administration  greater  than  her  own. 
This  was  the  object,  however,  at  which  his  discon- 
tented and  restless  spirit  aimed,  and  it  was  to  achieve 
it  that  he  demanded  the  crown-matrimonial, — a  term 
used  only  by  Scottish  historians,  by  many  of  whom 
its  exact  import  does  not  appear  to  have  been  under- 
stood. In  its  more  limited  acceptation,  it  seems  to 
have  conferred  upon  the  husband  who  married  a 
wife  of  superior  rank  the  whole  of  her  power  and 
dignity  so  long  as  their  union  continued.  Thus,  if  a 
countess  married  an  esquire,  he  might  become,  by 
the  marriage-contract,  a  matrimonial  earl;  and 
during  the  life  of  the  countess,  her  authority  was 
vested  in  her  husband  as  entirely  as  if  he  had  been 
an  earl  by  birth.  But  it  was  in  a  more  extended 
sense  that  Darnley  was  anxious  for  this  matrimonial 
dignity.  Knowing  it  to  be  consistent  with  the  laws 
of  Scotland  that  a  person  who  married  an  heiress 
should  keep  possession  of  her  estate,  not  only  during 
his  wife's  life  but  till  his  own  death,  he  was  desirous 
of  having  a  sovereign  sway  secured  in  his  own  per- 
son, even  though  Mary  died  without  issue.  In  the 
first  warmth  of  her  attachment  to  Darnley,  the  queen 
might  have  been  willing,  with  the  consent  of  parlia- 
ment, to  gratify  his  ambition;  but  as  soon  as  his 
unstable  and  ill-regulated  temper  betrayed  itself,  she 
felt  that  she  was  called  upon,  both  for  her  own  sake 
and  that  of  the  country,  to  refuse  his  request. 

Deceml>er,  1565,  there  was  stamped  a  silver  penny,  called  the  Mary  rial, 
bearing  on  one  side  a  tree,  with  the  motto,  Dot  gloria  vires;  and  the  cir- 
cumscription, ExsuTgat  Dens,  et  dissipentur  inimici  ejus  ;  and  on  the 
other,  Maria  et  Henricus,  Dei  Gratia,  Regina  et  Rex  Scotorum.  Speak- 
inffof  this  coin,  Keith  says,  that  "  the  famous  ewe-tree  of  Crookston,  the 
inheritance  of  the  family  of  Darnley,  in  the  parish  of  Paisley,  is  made  the 
reverse  of  this  new  coin ;  and  the  inscription  about  the  tree,  Dot  gloria 
vires,  is  no  doubt  with  a  view  to  reflect  honour  on  the  Lennox  family. 
This  tree,"  he  adds, "  which  stands  to  this  day,  is  of  so  large  a  trunk,  and 
•o  well  spread  in  its  branches,  that  it  is  seen  at  several  miles'  distance  " 
-Keith,  p.  337,  and  Appendix,  p.  118. — It  stands  no  longer. 


232  LIFE    OF    MARY 

The  more  opposition  Darnley  experienced  the 
more  anxious  he  became,  as  is  frequently  the  case, 
to  accomplish  his  wishes.  It  was  now  for  the  first 
time  that  he  found  Rizzio' s  friendship  fail  him. 
That  Italian,  whom  the  bigotry  of  the  Reformers  and 
the  ignorant  prejudices  of  more  recent  historians 
have  buried  under  a  weight  of  undeserved  abuse, 
was  one  of  the  most  faithful  servants  Mary  ever  had. 
He  approved  of  her  marriage  with  Darnley  for  state 
reasons,  and  had  in  consequence  incurred  the  hatred 
of  Murray  and  his  party,  while  Darnley,  on  the  con- 
trary, had  courted  and  supported  him.  But  Rizzio 
loved  his  mistress  too  well  to  wish  to  see  her  husband 
become  her  master.  His  motives,  it  is  true,  may 
not  have  been  altogether  disinterested.  He  knew 
he  was  a  favourite  with  Mary,  and  that  he  would  re- 
tain his  situation  at  court  so  long  as  her  influence 
was  paramount ;  but  he  had  not  the  same  confidence 
in  the  wayward  and  vacillating  Darnley,  who  was 
too  conceited  to  submit  to  be  ruled,  and  too  weak  to 
be  allowed  to  govern.  The  consequence  naturally 
was,  that  a  coldness  took  place  between  them,  and 
that  the  consideration  with  which  Mary  continued 
to  treat  Rizzio,  as  her  foreign  secretary,  only  served 
to  increase  Darnley's  disaffection. 

Such  was  the  state  of  matters,  when  the  Earl  of 
Morton,  secretly  supported  by  Maitland,  and  more 
openly  by  the  Lords  Ruthven  and  Lindsay,  deter- 
mined on  making  use  of  Darnley's  discontent  to  for- 
ward his  own  private  interests  and  those  of  some  of 
his  political  friends.  His  object  was,  in  the  first 
place,  to  strengthen  his  own  party  in  the  government 
by  securing  the  return  of  Murray,  Argyle,  Rothes, 
and  the  other  banished  lords ;  and,  in  the  second,  to 
prevent  certain  enactments  from  being  passed  in  the 
approaching  parliament,  by  which  Mary  intended  to 
restore  to  her  ecclesiastics  a  considerable  portion  of 
church  lands,  which  he  himself  and  other  rapacious 
noblemen  had  unjustly  appropriated.  These  posses- 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  233 

sions  were  to  be  retained  only  by  saving  the  rebels 
from  the  threatened  forfeitures,  and  thus  securing  a 
majority  in  parliament.  But  Mary,  with  a  firmness 
which  was  the  result  of  correct  views  of  good  govern- 
ment, was  now  finally  resolved  not  to  pardon  Mur- 
ray and  his  accomplices.  For  offences  of  a  far  less 
serious  nature,  Elizabeth  was  every  month  sending 
her  subjects  to  the  block ;  and  it  would  have  argued 
imbecility  and  fickleness  in  the  Queen  of  Scots  so 
soon  to  have  forgotten  the  treachery  of  her  own  and 
her  husband's  enemies.  There  was  scarcely  one  of 
her  ministers,  except  Rizzio,  who  had  the  courage 
and  the  good  sense  to  confirm  her  in  these  senti- 
ments ;  and  he  continued  to  retain  his  own  opinion 
both  in  this  affair  and  that  of  the  crown-matrimonial, 
notwithstanding  the  open  threats  of  Darnley,  the 
mysterious  insinuations  of  Morton,  and  the  attempt 
at  bribery  on  the  part  of  Murray.  This  last  noble- 
man, who  had  played  the  hypocrite  so  abjectly  be- 
fore Elizabeth  and  her  court,  did  not  scruple,  in  his 
selfish  humility,  to  offer  his  respects  and  to  send 
presents  to  one  whom  he  had  always  been  accus- 
tomed to  call,  in  the  language  of  his  historian  Bu- 
chanan, "an  upstart  fellow,"  "a  base  miscreant," 
"  a  contemptible  mushroom,"  and  to  whom  he  had 
never  before  given  any  thing  but  "  a  sour  look."* 

It  may  therefore  be  said,  that  there  were  at  this 
time  four  powerful  parties  connected  with  Scotland ; 
— Mary  was  at  the  head  of  one, — Morton  of  another, 
— Darnley  of  a  third, — and  Murray  of  the  fourth. 
But  so  long  as  the  queen  retained  her  ascendency, 
the  other  three  factions  could  have  little  hope  of 
arriving  at  their  respective  objects.  Mutually  to 
strengthen  each  other,  a  coalition  very  naturally 
suggested  itself,  founded  upon  the  principle  of  a  reci- 
procity of  benefits.  The  idea  was  soon  matured, 
and  the  plan  of  operations  concocted  with  a  secrecy 

Buchanan's  Hurtory ;  Melville's  Memoirs •  Keith,  p.  325. 


234  LIFE    OF    MARY 

and  callous  cruelty  worthy  of  Morton.  The  usual 
expedient  was  adopted,  of  drawing  up  and  signing  a 
formal  bond  or  set  of  articles  which  were  entered 
into  between  Henry,  King  of  Scotland,  and  James, 
Earl  of  Murray,  Archibald,  Earl  of  Argyle,  Andrew, 
Earl  of  Rothes,  Robert,  Lord  Boyd,  Andrew,  Lord 
Ochiltree,  and  certain  others  "remaining  in  Eng- 
land ;"  in  which  it  was  stipulated,  on  the  part  of  the 
lords,  that  at  the  first  parliament  which  should  be 
held  after  their  return,  they  should  take  such  steps 
as  would  secure  to  Darnley  a  grant  of  the  crown 
matrimonial  for  all  the  days  of  his  life ;  and  that, 
whoever  opposed  this  grant,  they  should  "seek, 
pursue,  and  extirpate  out  of  the  realm  of  Scotland, 
or  take  and  slay  them," — language,  it  will  be  ob- 
served, which  had  a  more  direct  application  to  Mary 
than  to  any  one  else.  On  the  part  of  Darnley,  and 
in  return  for  these  favours,  it  was  declared,  that  he 
should  not  allow,  inasmuch  as  in  him  lay,  any  for- 
feiture to  be  led  against  them ;  and  that,  as  soon  as 
he  obtained  the  crown-matrimonial  he  should  give 
them  a  free  remission  for  all  crimes, — taking  every 
means  to  remove  and  punish  any  one  who  opposed 
such  remission.*  In  plain  language,  these  articles 
implied  neither  more  nor  less  than  high-treason,  and 
place  Darnley's  character,  both  as  a  husband  and  a 
man,  in  the  very  worst  point  of  view, — showing  him  as 
a  husband  to  be  wofully  deficient  in  natural  affection, 
and  as  a  man  to  be  destitute  of  honour  and  incapable 
of  gratitude. 

Morton's  intrigues  having  proceeded  thus  far, 
there  seemed  to  be  only  one  other  step  necessary  to 
secure  for  him  the  accomplishment  of  his  purposes. 
Mary,  strong  in  the  integrity  of  her  own  intentions, 
and  in  the  popularity  of  her  administration,  did  not 
suspect  the  secret  machinations  which  were  carried 
on  around  her;  and  of  this  over-degree  of  confidence 

*  Goodall,  vol.  i.  p.227. 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  23f» 

in  the  stability  of  her  resources  Morton  determined 
to  take  advantage.  He  saw  that  a  change  in  the 
government  must  be  effected  at  whatever  risk,  though 
he  knew  that  nothing  but  a  sudden  and  violent  mea- 
sure could  bring  it  about.  It  was  now  February: 
parliament  was  to  meet  on  the  7th  of  March,  and  on 
the  12th  the  trial  of  the  absent  lords  was  to  come  on ; 
and  after  they  had  been  forfeited,  the  church-lands 
would  be  restored  to  their  rightful  owners.  If 
Mary's  person,  however,  could  be  seized, — if  her 
principal  anti-protestant  ministers  could  be  removed 
from  about  her, — and  if  Darnley  could  be  invested 
for  a  time  with  the  supreme  command,  these  disagree 
able  consequences  might  be  averted,  and  the  parlia- 
ment might  be  either  prorogued  or  intimidated  into 
submission.  But  without  a  shadow  of  justice  to 
have  openly  ventured  upon  putting  the  queen  in 
ward  would  have  been  too  daring  and  dangerous. 
A  scheme  therefore  was  formed,  by  which,  under  the 
pretence  of  caring  for  her  personal  safety,  and  pro- 
tecting the  best  interests  of  the  country,  she  was  to 
De  kept  as  long  as  they  should  think  necessary  from 
exercising  her  own  independent  authority.  By  this 
scheme  it  was  resolved  to  make  David  Rizzio  the 
victim  and  the  scapegoat  of  the  conspiracy.  Morton 
and  his  accomplices  well  knew  that  Rizzio  was 
generally  hated  throughout  Scotland.  The  Re- 
formers, in  particular,  exaggerating  his  influence 
with  the  queen,  delighted  in  representing  him  as  the 
minion  of  the  pope  and  the  servant  of  antichrist,  and 
there  were  no  terms  of  abuse  too  gross  which  they 
did  not  direct  against  the  unfortunate  Italian.  It 
would,  therefore,  give  a  popular  effect  to  the  whole 
enterprise,  were  it  to  be  believed  that  it  was  under- 
taken principally  for  the  sake  of  ridding  the  country 
from  so  hateful  an  interloper.  Many  historians,  con- 
founding the  effect  with  the  cause,  have  been  puzzled 
to  explain  why  Rizzio's  murder  should  have  led  so 
immediately  to  the  return  of  Murray  and  his  friends : 


236  LIFE    OF    MART 

they  forget  that  it  was,  on  the  contrary,  a  determi- 
nation to  secure  their  return,  and  to  discover  a  plau- 
sible pretext  for  retaining  Mary  a  prisoner  in  her  own 
palace,  that  led  to  the  murder. 

In  the  mean  time,  Rizzio  was  not  without  some 
apprehensions  for  his  personal  safety.  The  Scots, 
though  they  seldom  evince  much  reluctance  to  se- 
cure their  own  advancement  in  foreign  countries, 
are  of  all  nations  the  most  averse  to  allow  strangers 
to  interfere  with  their  affairs  at  home.  Aware  that 
they  have  little  enough  for  themselves,  they  cannot 
bear  to  see  any  part  of  what  they  consider  their  birth- 
right given  away  to  aliens,  however  deserving. 
Rizzio's  abilities,  and  consequent  favour  with  the 
queen,  were  the  means  of  placing  in  his  hands  so 
much  power  and  wealth,  that  he  incurred  the  hatred 
and  envy  of  almost  every  one  about  court.  In  the 
homely  but  expressive  language  of  Melville,  "  some 
of  the  nobility  would  gloom  upon  him,  and  some  of 
them  would  shoulder  him  and  shoot  him  by,  when 
they  entered  in  the  chamber,  and  found  him  alwayt, 
speaking  with  her  majesty."  Buchanan,  that  able 
but  most  prejudiced  and  disingenuous  historian,  ex- 
pressing the  prevalent  sentiments  of  the  day,  says 
that  **  the  low  birth  and  indigent  condition  of  this  man 
placed  him  in  a  station  in  which  he  ought  naturally  to 
have  remained  unknown  to  posterity;  but  that  which 
fortune  called  him  to  act  and  to  suffer  in  Scotland 
obliges  history  to  descend  from  its  dignity  to  record 
his  adventures."  As  if  "  low  birth  and  indigent  con- 
dition" have  ever  been,  or  will  ever  be,  barriers  suffi- 
cient to  shut  out  genius  and  talent  from  the  road  to 
greatness.  But  Rizzio  was  in  truth  far  from  being 
of  that  officious,  conceited,  and  encroaching  disposi- 
tion which  Buchanan  has  ascribed  to  him.  Sir  James 
Melville,  who  knew  him  well,  gives  quite  an  opposite 
impression  of  his  character.  He  mentions,  that,  not 
without  some  fear,  Rizzio  lamented  his  state  to  him, 
and  asked  his  counsel  >»«w  to  conduct  himself.  Sii 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  237 

James  told  him,  that  strangers  ought  to  be  cautious 
how  they  meddled  too  far  in  the  affairs  of  foreign 
countries;  for  that,  though  he  was  her  majesty's  Con- 
tinental secretary,  it  was  suspected  a  great  deal  of 
Scottish  business  also  passed  through  his  hands.  "  I 
advised  him,"  says  Melville, "  when  the  nobili ty  were 
present,  to  give  them  place,  and  pray  the  queen's 
majesty  to  be  content  therewith ;  and  showed  him 
for  an  example,  how  I  had  been  in  so  great  favour 
with  the  Elector  Palatine  that  he  caused  set  me  at 
his  own  table,  and  the  board  being  drawn,  used  to 
confer  with  me  in  presence  of  his  whole  court 
Whereat  divers  of  them  took  great  indignation 
against  me,  which,  so  soon  as  I  perceived,  I  -e- 
quested  him  to  let  me  sit  from  his  own  table  wi'h 
the  rest  of  his  gentlemen,  and  no  more  to  confer 
with  me  in  their  presence,  but  to  send  a  page  for  me, 
any  time  that  he  had  leisure,  to  come  to  him  in  his 
chamber ;  which  I  obtained,  and  that  way  made  my 
master  not  to  be  hated,  nor  myself  to  be  envied ;  and 
willed  him  to  do  the  like,  which  he  did,  and  said  unto 
me  afterward,  that  the  queen  would  not  suffer  him, 
but  would  needs  have  him  to  use  himself  in  the  old 
manner."  Melville  then  spoke  to  Mary  herself  upon 
the  subject,  and  she  expressly  told  him,  that  Signor 
David  Rizzio  "meddled  no  further  but  in  her  French 
writings  and  affairs,  as  her  other  French  secretary 
had  done  before."* 

Rizzio's  religion  was  another  reason  why  he  was 
so  very  unpopular.  It  was  confidently  asserted  that 
he  was  in  the  pay  of  the  pope  ;  and  that  he  was  in 
close  correspondence  with  the  Cardinal  of  Lorraine. 
Be  this  as  it  may,  the  support  he  undoubtedly  gave, 
so  far  as  lay  in  his  power,  to  the  Scottish  Catholics 
was  of  itself  enough,  in  these  times  of  bigotry,  to 
make  his  assassination  be  considered  almost  a  virtue. 
Besides,  there  were  some  more  personal  and  private 

*  Melville's  Memoirs,  p.  132  and  133. 


238  LIFE    OF    MARY 

grounds  for  Morton  and  his  friends  wishing  to  get 
rid  of  the  secretary-  There  is  a  remarkable  passage 
in  Blackwood's  Martyre  de  Marie,  by  which  it  would 
appear,  that  it  was  not  the  original  intention  of  the 
conspirators  to  assassinate  Rizzio,  but  merely  to  se- 
cure the  person  of  Mary ;  and  that  it  was  in  conse- 
quence of  Rizzio's  fidelity  to  the  queen,  and  refusal 
to  sanction  such  a  proceeding,  that  they  afterward 
changed  their  plan.  "  The  Earl  of  Morton,"  says 
Blackwood,  "  had  apartments  in  the  royal  palace.* 
There  lodged  there  also  her  majesty's  secretary, 
David  Rizzio,  a  Piedmontese,  and  a  man  of  great 
experience,  and  well  versed  in  affairs  of  state.  He 
was  much  respected  by  his  mistress,  not  for  any 
beauty  or  external  grace  that  was  in  him,  being 
rather  old,  ugly,  austere,  and  disagreeable,  but  for 
his  great  fidelity,  wisdom,  and  prudence,  and  on  ac- 
count of  several  other  good  qualities  which  adorned 
his  mind.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  his  master  (the 
king)  hated  him  greatly,  both  because  he  had 
laboured  to  effect  the  re-establishment  of  the  house 
of  Hamilton"  (the  Duke  of  Chatelherault,  it  will  be 
recollected,  was  the  only  one  of  the  rebels  who  had 
been  pardoned),  "  and  because  he  had  not  only  re- 
fused to  become  a  party  to,  but  had  even  revealed  to 
the  queen  a  certain  conspiracy  that  had  been  con- 
cluded on  between  his  highness  and  the  rebels,  by 
which  it  was  resolved  to  shut  up  her  majesty  in  a 
castle,  under  good  and  sure  guard,  that  Darnley 
might  gain  for  himself  all  authority,  and  the  entire 
government  of  the  kingdom.  My  Lord  Ruthven,  the 
head  of  this  conspiracy,  entertained  the  greatest  ill- 
will  against  the  poor  secretary,  because  he  had  nei- 
ther dared  nor  been  able  to  conceal  from  her  majesty, 
that  he  had  found  Ruthven  and  all  the  conspirators 
assembled  together  in  council  in  a  small  closet,  and 

*  We  translate  from  the  original  French  of  an  edition  of  the  Martyrt 
if.  la  Rayiic  tTEscossc,  printed  at  Antwerp  in  the  year  1583,— which  v«» 
nearly  agrees  with  the  edition  in  Jebb,  vol.  ii.  p.  202. 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  239 

had  heard  her  husband  express  himself  with  especial 
violence  and  chagrin.  Besides,  Morton,  fearing 
greatly  the  foresight  and  penetration  of  this  man, 
whom  he  knew  to  be  entirely  opposed  to  his  designs, 
resolved  to  accomplish  his  death,  and  in  so  doing 
comply  with  the  advice  which  had  been  given  him 
by  the  English  court."  This  is  a  passage  of  much 
interest,  and  puts  in  a  clear  and  strong  point  of  view 
the  treasonable  designs  of  this  formidable  con- 
sphvcy.* 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

The  Assassination  of  David  Rizzio. 

Ir  was  on  the  evening  of  Saturday  the  9th  of 
March,  1566,f  that  the  conspirators  determined  to 
strike  the  blow  which  was  either  to  make  or  mat 
them.J  The  retainers  of  Morton,  and  the  othei 
lords  his  accomplic'-s,  assembled  secretly  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  palace,  to  the  number  of  nearly 
fire  hundred.  They  were  all  armed,  and  when  it 
became  dark,  Morton,  who  took  the  command,  led 

*  Buchanan  alone,  or  all  the  Scottish  historians,  has  dared  to  insinuate 
the  probability  of  an  illicit  intercourse  having  subsisted  between  Mar} 
and  Rizzio ;  and  the  calumny  is  too  self-evidently  raise  to  merit  a  mo 
ment's  notice.  Every  respectable  writer  reprobates  so  disgusting  t 
piece  of  scandal,  however  unfavourably  inclined  towards  Mary  in  othei 
respects.  Camden,  Castelnau,  Robertson,  Hume, Tytler,  I.ning,  and  Dr 
stuart,  all  of  whom  think  it  worth  while  to  advert  to  the  subject  ir 
notes,  out  the  falsehood  of  Buchanan's  assertion  beyond  the  most  dis 
tant  shadow  of  a  doubt.  Indeed,  it  is  paying  it  too  great  a  compliment  tc 
advert  to  it  at  all. 

t  Miss  Benger,  oddly  enough,  says,  it  was  on  Saturday  the  6th  of 
April ;  a  mistake  into  which  no  other  historian  with  whom  we  are  ac- 
quainted has  fallen.— Miss  Benger's  Memoirs,  vol.  ii.  p.  233. 

|  The  parliament  had  met  upon  the  7th,  and  Mary  had  opened  it 
in  person,  unattended  by  Darnley,  who  refused  to  give  it  his  counte- 
nance ;  bat  no  business  of  importance  had  as  yet  been  transacted. 


240  LIFE    OF    MARY 

them  into  the  interior  court  of  Holy  rood  House,which, 
in  his  capacity  of  lord  high  chancellor  of  the  king;, 
dom,  he  was  able  to  do  without  much  difficulty  01 
suspicion.  It  had  been  arranged,  that  he  should 
remain  to  guard  the  entry  to  the  palace,  while 
Ruthven,  with  a  select  party,  was  to  proceed  to  the 
queen's  chamber.  Patrick  Lord  Ruthven  was  ex 
actly  the  sort  of  person  suited  for  a  deed  of  cow- 
ardice and  cruelty,  being  by  nature  cursed  with  dis- 
positions which  preferred  bigotry  to  religion,  and 
barbarism  to  refinement.  He  was  now  in  the  forty- 
sixth  year  of  his  age,  and  had  been  for  some  months 
confined  to  a  sick-bed  by  a  dangerous  disease.* 
Though  scarcely  able  to  walk,  he  nevertheless  un- 
dertook to  head  the  assassins.  He  wore  a  helmet, 
and  a  complete  suit  of  armour  concealed  under  a 
loose  robe.f 

Mary,  altogether  unsuspicious  of  the  tragedy  about 
to  be  performed,  sat  down  to  supper  as  usual  at  seven 
o'clock.  There  were  with  her  only  her  illegitimate 
sister,  the  Countess  of  Argyle,  her  brother  the  Lord 
Robert  Stuart,  and  her  foreign  secretary,  David 
Rizzio.  Beaton,  her  master  of  the  household,  Ers- 
kine,  an  inferior  attendant,  and  one  or  two  other  ser- 
vants of  the  privy  chamber,  were  in  waiting  at  a 
side-table :  or,  in  the  words  of  Stranguage,  "  tasting 
the  meat  taken  from  the  queen's  table  at  the  cupboard, 
as  the  servants  of  the  piivy  chamber  used  to  do."J 
It  is  a  curious  and  interesting  fact,  that  notwithstand- 
ing all  the  changes  which  time  has  wrought  on  the 
palace  of  Holyrood,  the  very  cabinet  in  which  Mary 
supped  on  this  eventful  evening,  as  well  as  the  ad- 
joining rooms  and  passages  through  which  the  con- 
spirators came,  still  exist,  in  nearly  the  same  state 
in  which  they  were  in  the  year  1566.  The  principal 

*  This  disease  was  "  an  inflammation  of  the  liver,  and  a  consurap 
tton  of  the  kidneys."— Keith,  Appendix,  p.  119. 
t  Blackwood  in  Jebb,  vol.  ii.  p.  204  ;  Goodall,  vol.  i.  p.  393 
)  Straiiguage,  p.  33 ;  Crawford's  Memoirs,  p.  9. 


OF    SCOTS.  241 

staircase  in  the  north-west  tower  leads  up  to  the 
queen's  chamber  of  presence ; — passing  through  this 
apartment,  a  door  opens  into  Mary's  bedroom  where 
her  own  bed  yet  stands,  although  its  furniture  is  now 
almost  in  tatters.  It  was  in  the  small  closet  or  cabi- 
net off  her  bedroom,  containing  one  window,  and 
only  about  twelve  feet  square,  that  Mary  sat  at  sup- 
per on  the  9th  of  March,  two  hundred  and  sixty-five 
years  ago.  Communicating  with  Darnley's  chamber 
immediately  beneath,  there  was  and  is  a  private  pas- 
sage into  Mary's  bedroom,  by  which  it  could  be 
entered  without  previously  passing  through  the  pres- 
ence-chamber. The  approach  to  this  passage  from 
the  queen's  room  is  concealed  by  a  piece  of  wainscot, 
little  more  than  a  yard  square,  which  hangs  upon 
hinges  in  the  wall,  and  opens  on  a  trap-stair.  It  had 
keen  originally  proposed  to  seize  Rizzio  in  his  own 
apartment ;  but  this  plan  was  abandoned,  for  two 
reasons ;  first,  because  it  was  less  certain,  since  it 
was  often  late  before  Rizzio  retired  for  the  night, 
since  he  sometimes  did  not  sleep  in  his  own  room  at 
all,  but  in  that  of  another  Italian  belonging  to  the 
queen's  household,  named  Signor  Francis,  and  since 
there  were  back-doors  and  windows,  through  which 
he  might  have  effected  his  escape ;  and,  second,  be- 
cause it  would  not  have  so  much  intimidated  Mary, 
and  would  have  made  it  necessary  to  employ  another 
party  to  secure  her  person — the  chief  object  of  the 
conspirators.* 

To  ascertain  whether  there  was  any  thing  to  hinder 
the  execution  of  their  design,  Darnley  about  eight 
•'clock  went  up  the  private  stairs,  and  entering  the 
small  room  where  his  wife  was  supping  sat  down 
familiarly  beside  her.  He  found,  as  he  expected,  his 
victim  Rizzio  in  attendance,  who,  indeed,  owing  to 
bad  health  and  the  little  estimation  in  which  he  was 
held  by  the  populace,  seldom  went  beyond  the  pre- 
31— 16 

*  Keith.  Appendix,  p.  ISt 


242  LIFE    OF    MARY 

3incts  of  the  palace.*  He  was  dressed  this  evening 
in  a  loose  robe-de-chambre  of  furred  damask,  with  a 
satin  doublet,  and  a  hose  of  russet  velvet ;  and  he 
wore  a  rich  jewel  about  his  neck,  which  was  never 
heard  of  after  his  death. f  The  conspirators,  having 
allowed  sufficient  time  to  elapse  to  be  satisfied  that 
all  was  as  they  wished,  followed  the  king  up  the  pri- 
vate way,  which  they  chose  in  order  to  avoid  any  of 
the  domestics  who  might  have  been  in  the  presence- 
chamber,  and  given  an  alarm.  They  were  headed 
by  the  Lord  Ruthven,  and  George  Douglas,  an  ille- 
gitimate son  of  the  late  Earl  of  Angus,  and  the  bas. 
tard  brother  of  Darnley's  mother,  the  Lady  Lenox ; 
a  person  of  the  most  profligate  habits,  and  an  apt 
instrumen'.  in  the  hands  of  the  Earl  of  Morton. 
These  men,  followed  by  as  many  of  their  accomplices 
as  could  crowd  into  the  small  room  where  Mary  sat, 
entered  abruptly  and  without  leave ;  while  the  re- 
maindfr,  to  the  number  of  nearly  twoscore,  col- 
lected in  her  bedroom.  Ruthven,  with  his  heavy 
armour  rattling  upon  his  lank  and  exhausted  frame, 
and  looking  as  grim  and  fearful  as  an  animated  corpse, 
stalked  into  the  room  first,  and  threw  himself  uncere- 
moniously into  a  chair.  The  queen  with  indignant 
amazement  demanded  the  meaning  of  this  insolent 
intrusion,  adding,  that  he  came  with  the  countenance 
and  in  the  garb  of  one  who  had  no  good  deed  in  his 
mind.  Turning  his  hollow  eyes  upon  Rizzio,  Ruth- 
ven answered,  that  he  intended  evil  only  to  the  vil- 
lain who  stood  near  her.  On  hearing  these  words, 
Rizzio  saw  that  his  doom  was  fixed,  and  lost  all 
presence  of  mind;  but  Mary,  through  whose  veins 
flowed  the  heroic  blood  of  James  V.  and  his  warlike 
ancestors,  retained  her  self-possession.  She  turned 
jo  her  husband  and  called  upon  him  for  protection ; 
Out  perceiving  that  he  was  disposed  to  remain  a 

*  Conaeuain  Jebb,  vol.  ii.  p.  25. 

1  Robertson's  Appenaixto  vol.  i.  No  x». 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  248 

passive  spectator  of  the  scene,  she  ordered  Ruthven 
to  withdraw  Binder  pain  of  treason,  promising,  that  if 
Rizzio  was  accused  of  any  crime,  it  should  be  in- 
quired into  by  the  parliament  then  assembled.  Ruth- 
ven replied  only  by  heaping  upon  the  unfortunate 
secretary  a  load  of  abuse ;  and  in  conclusion  declared 
the  determination  of  the  conspirators  to  make  them- 
selves masters  of  Rizzio's  person.  Rizzio,  scarcely 
knowing  what  he  did,  pressed  close  into  the  recess 
at  the  window,  with  his  dagger  drawn  in  one  hand, 
and  clasping  the  folds  of  Mary's  gown  with  the  other. 
In  spite  of  every  threat,  he  remained  standing  behind 
her,  and  continually  exclaiming  in  his  native  lan- 
guage, and  in  great  agitation,  Giustizia!  Giustizia! 
Mary's  own  person  was  thus  exposed  to  considerable 
danger,  and  the  assassins  desired  Darnley  to  take  his 
wife  in  his  arms  and  remove  her  out  of  the  way. 
The  confusion  and  terror  of  the  scene  now  increased 
a  hundredfold ; — the  master  of  the  household  and 
the  three  or  four  servants  of  the  privy-chamber  at- 
tempted to  turn  Lord  Ruthven  out  of  the  room  ; — his 
followers,  rushing  to  his  support,  overturned  the  sup- 
per-table, threw  down  the  dishes  and  the  candles, 
and  with  hideous  oaths  announced  their  resolution 
to  murder  Rizzio.  Their  own  impetuosity  might 
have  frustrated  their  design ;  for,  had  not  the  Countess 
of  Argyle  caught  one  of  the  candles  in  her  hand  as 
it  was  falling,  they  would  have  been  involved  in 
darkness,  and  their  victim  might  have  escaped. 

The  first  man  who  struck  Rizzio  was  George 
Douglas.  Swords  and  daggers  had  been  drawn,  and 
pistols  had  been  presented  at  him  and  at  the  queen ; 
but  no  blow  was  given,  till  Douglas,  seizing  the  dirk 
which  Darnley  wore  at  his  side,  stabbed  Rizzio  over 
Mary's  shoulder,  though  at  the  moment  she  was  no 
aware  of  what  he  had  done.  The  unhappy  Italian 
was  then  forcibly  dragged  out  into  the  bedroom, 
and  through  the  presence-chamber,  where  the  con- 
spirators, gathering  about  him,  speedily  completed 

r T 


-  I  4  LIFE    OF    MARV 

the  bloody  deed,  leaving  in  his  body  no  fewer  than 
fifty-six  wounds.  He  lay  weltering  in  his  gore  at 
the  door  of  *.he  presence-chamber  for  some  time- 
and  a  few  large  dusky  spots,  whether  occasioned  by 
his  blood  or  not,  are  to  this  day  pointed  out,  which 
stain  that  part  of  the  floor.  The  body  was  after 
ward  thrown  down  the  stairs,  and  carried  from  the 
palace  to  the  porter's  lodge,  with  the  king's  dagger 
still  sticking  in  his  side.  He  was  obscurely  buried 
next  day ;  but  subsequently  more  honourably,  near 
the  royal  vault  in  Holyrood  chapel.* 

Such  was  the  unhappy  end  of  one  who,  having 
come  into  Scotland  poor  and  unbefriended,  had  been 
raised,  through  the  queen's  penetration  and  his  own 
talents,  to  an  honourable  office,  the  duties  of  which 
he  discharged  with  fidelity.  If  his  rise  was  sudden, 
his  fall  was  more  so ;  for  up  to  the  very  day  of  his 
assassination  many  of  the  Scottish  nobility,  says 
Buchanan,  "  sought  his  friendship,  courted  him,  ad- 
mired his  judgment,  walked  before  his  lodgings,  and 
observed  his  levee."  But  death  no  sooner  put  an 
end  to  his  influence  than  the  memory  of  the  once- 

*  Keith,  p.  330;  Appendix,  p.  119;  Melville's  Memoirs,  p.  148;  Bu- 
chanan's History  of  Scotland,  book  xvii. ;  Martyre  de  Marie,  in  Jebb, 
vol.  ii.  p.  204  ;  Knox,  p.  392;  Holinshed's  Chronicles,  p.  382;  Robert- 
sou,  appendix  to  vol.  i.  No.  xv.  Some  historians  have  maintained  that 
Rizzio  was  actually  despatched  in  Mary's  presence ;  but  this  is  not  the 
fact,  for  Mary  remained  ignorant  of  his  fate  till  next  day.  In  a  letter 
which  the  Earl  of  Bedford  and  Randolph  wrote  to  the  privy  council  of 
England,  giving  an  account  of  this  murder,  and  which  has  been  pub- 
lished in  the  first  series  of  "  Ellis's  Original  Letters,  illustrative  of  Eng- 
lish History"  (vol.  ii.  p.  207),  we  find  these  words:  "  He  was  not  slain 
in  the  queen's  presence,  as  was  said."  Holinshed  and  others  are 
equally  explicit.  It  has  been  likewise  said,  that  it  was  not  intended  t* 
have  killed  him  that  evening,  but  to  have  tried  him  next  day,  and  then 
to  have  hanged  or  beheaded  him  publicly.  That  there  is  no  foundation 
for  this  assertion  is  proved  by  the  authorities  quoted  above ;  and  to  these 
may  be  added  the  letter  from  Morton  and  Ruthven  to  Throckmorton,  and 
"  the  bond  of  assurance  for  the  murder  to  be  committed"  granted  by 
Darnley  to  the  conspirators  on  the  1st  of  March, — both  preserved  by 
Goodall,  vol.  i.  p.  264  and  266.  That  the  conspirators  meant,  as  others 
have  Insisted,  to  take  advantage  of  the  situation  in  which  Mary  then 
was,  and  terrify  her  into  a  miscarriage,  which  might  have  ended  in  her 
death,  is  unsupported  by  any  evidence;  nor  can  we  see  what  purpose* 
•uch  a  design  would  hare  answored. 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  245 

envied  Italian  was  calumniated  upon  all  hands, 
Knox  even  speaks  approvingly  of  his  murder  (as  he 
had  formerly  done  of  that  of  Cardinal  Beaton),  as- 
suring us  that  he  was  slain  by  those  whom  "  God 
raised  up  to  do  the  same" — an  error  indicating  a 
distorted  moral  perception,  from  the  reproach  con- 
sequent on  which  his  biographer,  M'Crie,  has  un- 
successfully endeavoured  to  defend  him.*  The 
Reformer  adds  to  his  notice  of  Rizzio  a  story  which 
suits  well  the  superstitious  character  of  the  times, 
and  which  Buchanan  has  repeated.  He  mentions 
that  there  was  a  certain  John  Daniot,  a  French 
priest  and  a  reputed  conjurer,  who  told  Rizzio  "  to 
beware  of  a  bastard."  Rizzio,  supposing  he  alluded 
to  the  Earl  of  Murray,  answered,  that  no  bastard 
should  have  much  power  in  Scotland  so  long  as  he 
lived ;  but  the  prophecy  was  considered  to  be  ful- 
filled, when  it  was  known  that  the  bastard  Douglas 
was  the  first  who  stabbed  him.f 

In  the  mean  time  the  Earl  of  Morton,  who  had 
been  left  below  to  guard  the  gates,  being  informed 
that  Rizzio  was  slain,  and  that  Ruthven  and  Darnley 
retained  possession  of  the  queen's  person,  made 
an  attempt  to  seize  several  of  the  nobility  who 
lodged  in  the  palace,  and  whom  he  knew  to  be  un- 
favourable to  his  design  of  restoring  the  banished 
lords.  Whether  it  was  his  intention  to  have  put 
them  also  to  death  it  is  difficult  to  say ;  but  it  is  at 
all  events  not  likely  that  he  would  have  treated  them 
with  much  leniency.  The  noblemen  in  question, 
however,  who  were  the  Earls  of  Huntly,  Bothwell, 
and  Athol,  the  Lords  Fleming  and  Livingstone,  and 
Sir  James  Balfour,  contrived,  not  without  much  dif- 
ficulty, to  effect  their  escape.  The  two  first  let 
themselves  down  by  ropes  at  a  back  window ;  Athol, 
who  was  supping  in  the  town  with  Maitland,  was 

»  Vide  M'Crie'*  Life  of  Knox,  rol.  i.  p.  47 
t  Knox,  p.  339 ;  Buchanan,  book  xrii 


246  LIFE    OF   MART 

apprized  of  his  danger,  and  did  not  return  to  Holy- 
rood  that  night.  He  or  some  of  the  fugitive! 
hastened  to  the  provost  of  Edinburgh,  and  informed 
him  of  the  treasonable  proceedings  at  the  palace. 
The  alarm-bell  was  immediately  rung ;  and  the  civic 
authorities,  attended  by  five  or  six  hundred  of  the 
loyal  citizens,  hastened  down  to  Holyrood,  and 
called  upon  the  queen  to  show  herself  and  assure 
them  of  her  safety.  But  Mary,  who  was  kept  a 
prisoner  in  the  closet  in  which  she  had  supped,  was 
not  allowed  to  answer  this  summons,  the  conspira- 
tors well  knowing  what  would  have  been  the  conse- 
quences. On  the  contrary,  as  she  herself  afterward 
wrote  to  her  ambassador  in  France,  she  was  •'  ex- 
tremely threatened  by  the  traitors,  who,  in  her  face, 
declared  that  if  she  spoke  to  the  townspeople  the>- 
would  cut  her  in  collops  and  cast  her  over  the  walls.^ 
Darnley  went  to  the  window,  and  informed  the 
crowd  that  he  and  the  queen  were  well,  and  did  not 
require  their  assistance ;  and  Morton  and  Ruthven 
told  them  that  no  harm  had  been  done,  and  besought 
them  to  return  home,  which,  upon  these  assurances, 
they  consented  to  do. 

A  scene  of  mutual  recrimination  now  took  place 
between  Mary  and  her  husband,  which  was  pro- 
longed by  the  rude  and  gross  behaviour  of  Ruthven. 
That  barbarian,  returning  to  the  queen's  apartment, 
after  having  imbrued  his  hands  in  the  blood  of  Riz- 
zio,  called  for  a  cup  of  wine,  and  having  seated  him- 
self, drained  it  to  the  dregs,  while  Mary  stood  be- 
side him.  Being  somewhat  recovered  from  the 
extreme  terror  she  had  felt  when  she  saw  her  secre- 
tary dragged  away  by  the  assassins,  she  rebuked 
Ruthven  for  his  unmannerly  conduct ;  but  he  only 
added  insulting  language  to  the  crimes  he  had 
already  committed.  Perceiving,  however,  that  her 
majesty  was  again  growing  sick  and  ill  (and  even 
without  considering,  what  the  conspirators  weL 
knew,  that  she  was  in  the  seventh  month  of  h»" 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  247 

pregnancy,  her  indisposition  will  excite  little  won- 
der), he  proposed  to  the  king  that  they  should  re- 
tire, taking  care  to  station  a  sufficiently  strong 
guard  at  the  door  of  Mary's  chamber.  "All  that 
night,"  says  Mary,  "  we  were  detained  in  cap- 
tivity within  our  chamber,  and  not  permitted  to 
have  intercommunion  scarcely  with  our  servant- 
women."* 

Next  morning,  although  it  was  Sunday,  the  con- 
spirators issued  a  proclamation  in  the  king's  name, 
and  without  asking  the  queen's  leave,  proroguing 
the  parliament,  and  commanding  all  the  temporal 
and  spiritual  lords  who  had  come  to  attend  it  to 
retire  from  Edinburgh.  Illegal  as  it  was,  this  proc- 
lamation was  obeyed;  for  Morton  and  his  accom- 
plices had  the  executive  power  in  their  own  hands, 
and  Mary's  more  faithful  subjects  were  taken  so 
much  by  surprise  that  they  were  unable  to  offer  any 
immediate  resistance.  Mary  herself  was  still  kept 
in  strict  confinement ;  and  the  only  attempt  she 
could  make  to  escape,  which  was  through  the  assist- 
ance of  Sir  James  Melville,  failed.  Sir  James  was 
allowed  to  leave  the  palace  early  on  the  forenoon 
of  Sunday ;  and  as  he  passed  towards  the  outer  gate 
Mary  happened  to  be  looking  over  her  window,  and 
called  upon  him  imploringly  for  help.  "I  drew 
near  unto  the  window,"  says  Melville,  "  and  asked 
what  help  lay  in  my  power,  for  that  I  should  give. 
She  said,  '  Go  to  the  Provost  of  Edinburgh,  and  bid 
him,  in  my  name,  convene  the  town  with  speed,  and 
come  and  relieve  me  out  of  these  traitors'  hands ; 
but  run  fast,  for  they  will  stay  you.' "  The  words 
were  scarcely  spoken,  before  some  of  the  guards 
came  up,  and  challenged  Sir  James.  He  told  them, 
he  "  was  only  passing  to  the  preaching  in  St.  Giles's 
kirk ;"  and  they  allowed  him  to  proceed.  He  went 
direct  to  the  provost,  and  delivered  his  commission 

*  Keith,  p.  332,  and  Appendix,  126' 


248  LIFE    OF    MARY 

from  the  queen ;  but  the  provost  protested  he  did  not 
know  how  to  act,  for  he  had  received  contrary  com- 
mands from  the  king;  and  besides,  the  people,  he 
said,  were  not  disposed  to  take  up  arms  to  revenge 
Rizzio's  death.  Sir  James  was  therefore  reluctantly 
obliged  to  send  word  to  Mary,  by  one  of  her  ladies, 
that  he  could  not  effect  her  release.  In  the  course 
of  the  day  Mary  was  made  acquainted  with  Rizzio's 
fate,  and  she  lamented  the  death  of  her  faithful  ser- 
vant with  tears.  Between  seven  and  eight  in  the 
evening,  the  Earls  of  Murray  and  Rothes,  with  the 
other  banished  lords,  arrived  from  England.  During 
the  whole  of  the  night  and  all  next  day  the  quee» 
was  kept  as  close  a  prisoner  as  before. 

Morton  and  his  accomplices,  however,  now  found 
themselves  in  a  dilemma.  They  had  succeeded  in 
bringing  home  their  rebel  friends,  in  proroguing  or 
dissolving  the  parliament,  in  conferring  upon  Darnley 
all  the  power  he  wished,  in  murdering  Rizzio,  and  in 
chasing  from  court  the  nobles  who  had  formed  part 
of  the  administration  along  with  him.  But  to  effect 
these  purposes  they  had  grossly  insulted  their  law- 
ful sovereign,  and  had  turned  her  own  palace  into  a 
prison,  constituting  themselves  her  jailers.  Having 
achieved  all  their  more  immediate  objects,  the  only 
remaining  question  was — what  were  they  to  do  with 
the  queen  !  If  they  were  to  set  her  at  liberty,  could 
they  expect  that  she  would  tamely  forget  the  indig- 
nities they  had  offered  her,  or  quietly  submit  to 
the  new  state  of  things  they  had  established  ?  Had 
they,  on  the  other  hand,  any  sufficient  grounds  for 
proceeding  to  further  extremities  against  her? 
Would  the  country  allow  a  sovereign  whose  reign 
had  been  hitherto  so  prosperous  to  be  at  once  de- 
prived of  her  crown  and  authority  ?*  Daring  as  these 

*  That  something  of  the  kind  was  actually  contemplated  we  learn  from 
Mary  herself.  "  In  their  council,"  she  says  in  the  letter  already  quoted 
"  they  thought  it  moat  expedient  we  should  be  warded  in  our  castle  of 
Stirling,  there  to  remain  till  we  had  approved  in  parliament  all  their 
wickJed  enterprises  established  their  religion,  and  given  to  the  king  th- 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  249 

•en  were,  they  could  hardly  venture  upon  a  measure 
so  odious.  Besides,  Darnley,  always  vacillating  and 
always  contemptible,  was  beginning  to  think  he  had 
5 one  too  far ;  and,  influenced  by  something  like  re- 
turning affection  for  his  beautiful  consort,  who  was 
probably  in  a  month  or  two  to  make  him  a  father, 
he  insisted  that  the  matter  should  now  be  allowed  to 
rest  where  it  was,  provided  Mary  would  promise  to 
receive  into  favour  the  lords  who  had  returned  from 
banishment,  and  would  grant  a  deed  of  oblivion  to 
all  who  had  taken  a  part  in  the  recent  assassination. 
Morton,  Ruthven,  Murray,  and  the  rest  were  ex 
tremely  unwilling  to  consent  to  so  precarious  an  ar 
rangement ;  but  Darnley  overruled  their  objections. 
On  Monday  evening  articles  were  drawn  up  for  theii 
security,  which  he  undertook  to  get  subscribed  by 
the  queen ;  and  trusting  to  his  promises,  all  the  con- 
spirators, including  the  lords  who  had  just  returned, 
withdrew  themselves  and  their  retainers  from  Holy 
rood  House,  and  went  to  sup  at  the  Earl  of  Morton's.* 
As  soon  as  Mary  found  herself  alone  with  Darnley 
she  urged  with  all  the  force  of  her  superior  mind 
every  argument  she  could  think  of,  to  convince  hirr 
how  much  he  erred  in  associating  himself  with  the 
existing  cabal.  She  was  not  aware  of  the  full  ex 
tent  to  which  he  was  implicated  in  their  transactions 
for  he  had  assured  her  that  he  was  not  to  blame  foi 
Rizzio's  murder,  and  as  yet  she  believed  him  inno- 
cent of  comriving  it.  She  spoke  to  him,  therefore 
with  the  confidence  of  an  affectionate  wife,  with  the 
winning  eloquence  of  a  lovely  woman,  and  with  the 
force  and  dignity  of  an  injured  queen.  She  at  length 
satisfied  him  that  his  best  hopes  of  advancement 
rested  in  her,  and  not  on  men  who,  having  first 

•rown-matrimonial  and  the  whole  government  of  our  realm ;  or  else,  by 
all  appearance,  firmly  purposed  to  have  put  us  to  death,  or  detained  us  >• 
perpetual  captivity." — Keith,  Appendix,  p.  132. 

*  Rutbven'a  "  Discourse"  concerning  the  murder  of  Rizzio,  in  Keith, 
Appendix,  p.  138 


250  LIFE    OF    MARY 

renounced  allegiance  to  their  lawful  queen,  undertook 
to  confer  upon  him  a  degree  of  power  which  was  not 
theirs  to  bestow.  Darnley  further  learned  from 
Mary  that  Huntly,  Bothwell,  Athol,  and  others  had 
already  risen  in  her  behalf;  and  yielding  to  her  repre- 
sentations and  entreaties,  he  consented  that  they 
should  immediately  make  their  escape  together.  At 
midnight,  accompanied  only  by  the  captain  of  the 
guard  and  two  others,  they  left  the  palace  and  rode 
to  Dunbar  without  stopping. 

In  a  few  days  Mary,  having  been  joined  by  more 
than  one-half  of  her  nobility,  found  herself  at  the 
head  of  a  powerful  army.  The  conspirators,  on  the 
other  hand,  seeing  themselves  betrayed  by  Darnley 
and  little  supported  by  the  country,  were  hardly  able 
to  offer  even  the  shadow  of  resistance  to  the  queen. 
Still  further  to  diminish  the  little  strength  they  had, 
Mary  resolved  to  make  a  distinction  between  the  old 
and  the  new  rebels ;  and  influenced  by  reasons  on  which 
Morton  had  little  calculated,  she  consented  to  pardon 
Murray,  Argyle,  and  others,  who  immediately  resorted 
to  her  and  were  received  into  favour.  After  remain- 
ing in  Dunbar  only  five  days,  she  marched  back  in 
triumph  to  Edinburgh,  and  the  conspirators  fled  in 
all  directions  to  avoid  the  punishment  they  so  justly 
deserved.  Morton,  Maitland,  Ruthven,  and  Lindsay 
betook  themselves  to  Newcastle,  where,  for  aught 
that  is  known  to  the  contrary,  they  occupied  the  verj 
lodgings  which  Murray  and  his  accomplices  had  pos 
sessed  a  week  or  two  before. 

The  whole  face  of  affairs  was  now  altered ;  and 
Mary,  who  for  some  days  had  suffered  so  much,  wa.» 
once  more  queen  of  Scotland.  "  And  such  a  changt 
you  should  have  seen,"  says  Archbishop  Spottiswood 
"  that  they  who  the  night  preceding  did  vaunt  of  the 
fact  (Rizzio's  murder)  as  a  godly  and  memorable  act, 
affirming,  some  truly,  some  falsely,  that  they  were 
present  thereat,  did,  on  the  morrow,  forswear  all 
«hat  before  they  had  affirmed  "  But  it  was  not  in 


•-IUEEN   OF    SCOTS.  251 

Mary's  nature  to  be  cruel,  and  her  resentments  were 
never  of  long  continuance.  Two  persons  only  were 
put  to  death  for  their  share  in  Rizzio's  slaughter,  and 
these  were  men  of  little  note.  Before  the  end  of 
the  year  most  of  the  principal  delinquents,  as  will 
be  seen  in  the  sequel,  were  allowed  to  return  to  court. 
Lord  Ruthveu,  however,  died  at  Newcastle  of  his  old 
disease,  a  month  or  two  after  his  flight  thither.  His 
death  occasioned  little  regret,  and  his  name  lives  in 
history  only  as  that  of  a  titled  murderer.* 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

The  Birth  of  James  VI. 

MARY'S  vigorous  conduct  had  again  put  her  in  pos- 
session of  that  rightful  authority  of  which  so  lawless 
an  attempt  had  been  made  to  deprive  her ;  but  though 
restored  to  power,  she  was  far  from  being  likewise 
restored  to  happiness.  The  painful  conviction  was 
now  at  length  forced  upon  her,  that  she  had  not  in  all 
the  world  one  real  friend.  She  felt  that  the  neces- 
sities of  her  situation  forced  her  to  associate  in  her 
councils  men  who  were  the  slaves  of  ambition,  and 
whose  heartless  courtesies  were  offered  to  her  only 
until  a  prospect  of  higher  advantages  held  out  a 
temptation  to  transfer  them  to  another.  She  had  not 
been  long  in  her  own  kingdom  before  Bothwell  and 
others  contemplated  seizing  her  person  and  assassi- 
nating her  prime  minister,  the  Earl  of  Murray :  she 
had  hardly  succeeded  in  frustrating  these  designs, 
when  Murray  himself  directed  his  strength  against 
her ;  and  now,  still  more  recently,  the  husband  foi 

*  Keith,  p.  3J4  ;  Stuart's  History  of  Scotland,  p.  138,  et  aeq. 


252  LIFE    OF    MARY 

whose  sake  she  had  raised  armies  to  chase  her  bro- 
ther from  the  country,  had  aimed  at  making  him. 
self  independent,  and,  to  ingratiate  himself  with 
traitors,  had  scrupled  not  to  engage  in  a  deed  of  wan- 
ton cruelty,  personally  insulting  to  his  wife  and 
sovereign. 

Ignorant  where  to  turn  for  repose  and  safety,  Mary 
began  to  lose  much  of  the  natural  vivacity  and  buoy- 
ancy of  her  temper,  and  to  feel  that  in  those  turbu- 
lent times  she  was  endowed  with  too  little  of  that 
dissimulation  which  enabled  her  sister  Elizabeth  to 
steer  so  successfully  among  the  rocks  and  shoals  of 
government.  In  a  letter  written  about  this  period  to 
one  of  her  female  relations  in  France,  she  says, 
touchingly, "  It  will  grieve  you  to  hear  how  entirely, 
in  a  very  short  time,  I  have  changed  my  character, 
from  that  of  the  most  easily  satisfied  and  care-chasing 
of  mortals,  to  one  embroiled  in  constant  turmoils  and 
perplexities."  "  She  was  sad  and  pensive,"  says  Sir 
James  Melville,  "  for  the  late  foul  act  committed  in 
her  presence  so  irreverently.  So  many  great  sighs 
she  would  give  that  it  was  pity  to  hear  her,  and 
over  few  were  careful  to  comfort  her."  But  the  per- 
fidy of  her  nobles  Mary  could  have  borne ;  it  was 
the  disaffection  and  wickedness  of  her  husband  that 
afflicted  her  most.  Anxious  to  believe  that  he  told 
her  the  truth,  when  he  asserted  that  he  was  not  im- 
plicated in  the  murder  of  Rizzio,  she  rejoiced  to  see 
him  issue  a  proclamation,  declaring  that  he  was 
neither  "  a  partaker  in,  nor  privy  to,  David's  slaughter." 
But  the  truth  was  too  notorious  to  be  kept  long  con- 
cealed. Randolph  wrote  to  Cecil  on  the  4th  of  April, 
1566 — "  The  queen  hath  seen  all  the  covenants  and 
bands  that  passed  between  the  king  and  the  lords, 
and  now  findeth  that  his  declaration  before  her  and 
council,  of  his  innocency  of  the  death  of  David,  was 
false,  and  is  grievously  offended  that  by  their  means 
he  should  seek  to  come  to  the  crown-matrimonial." 
Hence  sprang  the  grief  which,  in  secret,  preyed  so 


QUEEN    OF   SCOTS.  253 

deeply  upon  Mary's  health  and  spirits.  Few  things 
are  more  calculated  to  distress  a  generous  mind  than 
to  discover  that  the  object  of  its  affections  is  un- 
worthy the  love  which  has  been  lavished  upon  it.  The 
young  and  graceful  Darnley,  laying  at  Mary's  feet  the 
real  or  pretended  homage  of  his  heart,  was  a  very 
different  person  from  the  headstrong  and  designing 
king,  colleaguing  with  her  rebels,  assassinating  hei 
faithful  servant,  and  endeavouring  to  snatch  the  crown 
from  her  head.  "  That  very  power,"  says  Robert 
son,  "  which,  with  liberal  and  unsuspicious  fondness 
she  had  conferred  upon  him,  he  had  employed  to 
insult  her  authority,  to  limit  her  prerogative,  and  to 
endanger  her  person :  such  an  outrage  it  was  impos 
sible  any  woman  could  bear  or  forgive."  Yet  Mary 
looked  upon  these  injuries,  coming  as  they  did  from 
the  man  whom  she  had  chosen  to  be  the  future  com- 
panion of  her  life,  "  more  in  sorrow  than  in  anger ;" 
and  though  she  shed  many  a  bitter  tear  over  his  un- 
worthiness,  she  did  not  cease  to  love  him. 

In  the  midst  of  these  anxieties,  the  time  for  the 
queen's  delivery  drew  near.  After  a  short  excursion 
to  Stirling  and  the  neighbourhood,  in  which  she  was 
accompanied  by  Darnley,  Murray,  Bothwell,  and 
others,  she  returned  to  Edinburgh,  and  by  the  advice 
of  her  privy  council  went  to  reside  in  the  castle,  as 
the  place  of  greatest  security,  till  she  should  present 
the  country  with  an  heir  to  the  throne.  During  the 
months  of  April  and  May  she  lived  there  very 
quietly,  amusing  herself  with  her  work  and  her  books, 
and  occasionally  walking  out,  for  she  had  no  wheeled 
carriage.  She  occupied  herself,  too,  in  endeavour- 
ing to  reconcile  those  of  her  nobility  whom  contrary 
interests  and  other  circumstances  had  disunited.  It 
cost  her  no  little  trouble  to  prevail  upon  the  two  most 
faithful  of  her  ministers,  the  Earl  of  Huntly  her 
chancellor,  and  Bothwell  her  lord  high  admiral,  to- 
submit  to  the  returning  influence  of  their  old  enemy 
the  Earl  of  Murray.  It  was  especially  galling  n»- 


254  LIFE    OF    MARY 

them  that  Murray  and  Argyle  were  the  only  persona 
in  addition  to  the  king  allowed  to  reside  in  the  castle 
with  Mary.  But  it  was  her  own  wish  to  have  her 
husband  and  her  brothers  beside  her  on  the  present 
occasion :  and  no  representations  made  by  Bothwell 
or  Huntly  could  alter  her  resolution.  Yet  these  two 
«jarls  went  the  length  of  assuring  the  queen  that 
Murray  had  entered  into  a  new  conspiracy  w'.th  Mor- 
ton, and  that  they  would  probably  put  in  ward  both 
herself  and  her  infant,  as  soon  as  it  was  born.  Sur- 
rounded as  Mary  was  by  traitors,  she  could  not  know 
whether  this  information  was  true  or  not ;  but  her 
returning  affection  for  Murray  prevailed  over  every 
other  consideration.* 

Elizabeth  was  all  this  time  narrowly  watching  the 
progress  of  affairs  in  Scotland.  Murray's  restora 
tion  to  favour  pleased  her  much ;  and,  to  reconcile 
Morton  and  his  friends  to  the  failure  of  their  plots, 
she  secretly  countenanced  and  protected  them.  With 
her  usual  duplicity,  however,  she  sent  to  Edinburgli 
Henry  Killigrew,  to  congratulate  Mary  on  her  late 
escape,  and  to  assure  her  that  she  would  give  direc- 
tions to  remove  Morton  out  of  England.  She  like- 
wise recalled  Randolph,  of  whose  seditious  practices 
Mary  had  complained ;  but  as  if  to  be  even  with  the 
Scottish  queen,  she  commanded  Killigrew  to  demand 
the  reason  why  a  certain  person  of  the  name  of 
Ruxby,  a  rebel  and  a  papist,  had  been  protected  in 
Scotland?  It  would  have  been  better  for  Elizabeth 
had  she  allowed  this  subject  to  rest.  Though  Ruxby 
feigned  himself  a  refugee  from  England  on  account 
of  religion,  he  had  in  reality  been  privately  sent  to 
Scotland  by  Elizabeth  herself  andher  secretary  Cecil. 
The  object  of  his  mission  was  to  find  out  whether 
Mary  carried  on  any  secret  correspondence  with  the 
English  Catho)  cs.  For  this  purpose  he  was  to  pre- 

*  Melville's  Memoirs,  p  194  ;  Goodail,  vol.  i.  p.  286 ;  Chalmers,  voi 
U.  p.  JM. 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  255 

tend  that  he  was  a  zealous  supporter  of  her  right 
and  title  to  the  crown  of  England  ;  and  that  he  had 
some  influence  with  the  English  Catholics,  all  of 
whom,  he  was  to  assert,  thought  as  he  did.  Having 
thus  ingratiated  himself  with  Mary,  he  was  imme- 
diately to  betray  any  discoveries  he  might  make  to 
Cecil.  The  scheme  was  ingeniously  enough  con- 
trived; coming  as  an  avowed  enemy  to  Elizaheth, 
and  she  herself  actually  supplying  credentials  to  that 
effect,  no  suspicion  was  for  some  time  entertained  of 
his  real  designs.  That  he  was  able  to  learn  any 
thing  which  could  afford  the  English  queen  reason- 
able ground  of  offence  is  not  likely ;  for  though  seve- 
ral communications  in  cipher  passed  between  him 
and  Cecil,  their  contents  were  never  made  public. 
Shortly  before  Killigrew's  arrival,  Ruxby's  real  char- 
acter had  been  accidentally  discovered ;  and  when 
the  ambassador,  more  for  the  sake  of  aiding  than  of 
hindering  the  spy  in  the  prosecution  of  his  object, 
made  a  pro  forma  request  that  he  should  not  be  har- 
boured any  longer,  Mary  instantly  ordered  him  to 
be  apprehended,  and  all  his  writings  and  ciphers  to 
be  seized  and  examined.  The  indubitable  evidence 
which  they  afforded  of  Elizabeth's  systematic  cun- 
ning forced  a  smile  from  Mary,  and  might  have 
brought  a  blush  to  the  cheek  of  her  rival.  The  Queen 
of  Scots,  however,  did  not  condescend  to  give  any 
utterance  to  the  feelings  which  this  affair  must  have 
inspired ;  and  nothing  further  is  known  of  Elizabeth's 
disgraced  and  detected  minion.* 

Early  in  June,  perceiving  that  the  time  of  her  de- 
livery was  at  hand,  Mary  wrote  letters  to  her  princi- 
pal nobility  requiring  them  to  come  to  Edinburgh 
during  that  juncture.  She  then  made  her  will  which 
she  caused  to  be  thrice  transcribed ; — one  copy  was 
sent  to  France,  a  second  committed  to  the  charge  of 
her  privy  council,  and  the  third  she  kept  herself. 

*  Melville's  Memoirs,  p.  15C  •  Keith,  p.  337 


256  I.Il  i:    OF    MARY 

The  day  preceding  her  delivery,  she  wiote  with  her 
own  hand  a  letter  to  Elizabeth  announcing  the  event, 
but  leaving  a  blank  "to  be  filled,"  says  Melville, 
"  either  with  a  son  or  a  daughter,  as  it  might  please 
God  to  grant  unto  her." 

On  Wednesday,  the  19th  day  of  June,  1566,  be- 
tween nine  and  ten  in  the  morning,  the  queen  was 
safely  delivered  of  a  son.  The  intelligence  was  re- 
ceived every  where  throughout  Scotland,  with  sin- 
cere demonstrations  of  joy.  "As  the  birth  of  a 
prince,"  says  Keith, "  was  one  of  the  greatest  of  bless- 
ings that  God  could  bestow  upon  this  poor  divided 
land,  so  was  the  same  most  thankfully  acknowledged 
by  all  ranks  of  people,  according  as  the  welcome 
news  thereof  reached  their  ears."  In  Edinburgh, 
the  triumph  continued  for  several  days ;  and  upon 
the  first  intimation  of  the  event,  all  the  nobility  in 
the  town,  accompanied  by  most  of  the  citizens,  went 
in  solemn  procession  to  the  high  church,  and  offered 
up  thanksgiving  for  so  signal  a  mercy  shown  to  the 
queen  and  the  whole  realm. 

When  the  news  was  conveyed  to  England,  it  was 
far  from  being  heard  with  so  much  satisfaction.  It 
was  between  eleven  and  twelve  on  the  morning  of  the 
19th,  that  the  Lady  Boyne  came  to  Sir  James  Mel- 
ville, and  told  him  that  their  prayers  being  granted, 
he  must  carry  Mary's  letter  to  London  with  all  dili- 
gence. "  It  struck  twelve  hours,"  says  Sir  James. 
"  when  I  took  my  horse,  and  I  was  at  Berwick  that 
same  night.  The  fourth  day  after  I  was  in  London," 
— a  degree  of  despatch  very  unusual  in  those  times. 
Melville  found  Elizabeth  at  Greenwich,  "  where  her 
majesty  was  in  great  merriness,  and  dancing  after 
supper.  But  so  soon  as  the  secretary  Cecil  sounded 
the  news  in  her  ear  of  the  prince's  birth,  all  merri- 
ness was  laid  aside  for  that  night ;  every  one  that 
was  present  marvelling  what  might  move  so  sudden 
a  changement.  For  the  queen  sat  down  with  her 
hand  upon  her  haffet  (cheek),  and  bursting  out  to 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  257 

some  of  her  ladies,  how  that  the  Queen  01  Scotland 
was  lighter  of  a  fair  son,  and  that  she  was  but  a  bar- 
ren stock."  Next  morning,  Elizabeth  gave  Melville  a 
formal  audience,  at  which,  having  had  time  for  prepa- 
ration, she  endeavoured  to  dissemble  her  real  feel- 
ings; though  by  overacting  her  part,  she  made  them 
only  the  more  apparent.  She  told  him  gravely,  that 
the  joyful  news  he  brought  her  had  recovered  her 
out  of  a  heavy  sickness,  which  had  held  her  for  fif- 
teen days !  **  Then  I  requested  her  majesty,"  says 
Melville,  "  to  be  a  gossip  unto  the  queen,  for  our 
comers  are  called  gossips  in  England,  which  she 
granted  gladly  to  be.  Then  I  said  her  majesty  would 
have  a  fair  occasion  to  see  the  queen,  which  she  had 
so  oft  desired.  At  this  she  smiled,  and  said  that  she 
would  wish  that  her  estate  and  affairs  might  permit 
her ;  and  promised  to  send  both  honourable  lords  and 
ladies  to  supply  her  room."* 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Afary't  Treatment  of  Darnley,  and  alleged  Love  for  the  E«u\ 
of  BothweU. 

As  soon  as  she  had  sufficiently  recovered  to  be  able 
to  quit  the  castle,  Mary  resolved  on  leaving  the 
fatigues  of  government  behind,  and  going  for  some 
time  into  the  country.  Her  infant  son  was  intrusted 
to  the  care  of  the  Earl  of  Mar  as  his  governor,  and 
the  Lady  Mar  as  his  governess.  The  time  was  not 
yet  arrived  to  make  arrangements  regarding  bis  edu- 
cation ;  but  the  general  assembly  had  already  sent  a 
deputation  to  the  queen,  to  entreat  that  she  would 

31—17 

*  Melville's  Memoin,  p.  168. 


258  LIFE    OF    MARY 

allow  him  to  be  brought  up  in  the  Reformed  religion. 
To  this  request  Mary  avoided  giving  any  positive 
answer;  but  she  condescendingly  took  the  intent 
from  the  nurse,  and  put  it  into  the  arms  of  some  of 
the  divines.  A  prayer  was  pronounced  over  it ;  and 
Spottiswood  assures  us,  that,  at  the  conclusion,  the 
child  gave  an  inarticulate  murmur,  which  the  de- 
lighted Presbyterians  construed  to  be  an  Amen 

It  was  the  seat  of  the  Earl  of  Mar  at  Alloa  that 
the  queen  first  visited.  Being  not  yet  equal  to  the 
fatigues  of  horseback,  she  went  on  board  a  vessel  at 
Newhaven,  and  sailed  up  the  Forth.  She  was  ac- 
companied by  Murray  and  others  of  her  nobility.* 
Buchanan,  whose  constant  malice  and  misrepresenta- 
tion become  at  times  almost  ludicrous,  says,  "  Not 
long  after  her  delivery,  on  a  day  very  early,  accom- 
panied by  very  few  that  were  privy  of  her  council, 
she  went  down  to  the  waterside  at  a  place  called 
the  Newhaven ;  and  while  all  marvelled  whither  she 
went  in  such  haste,  she  suddenly  entered  into  a  ship 
there  prepared  for  her.  With  a  train  of  thieves,  all 
honest  men  wondering  at  it,  she  betook  herself  to 
sea,  taking  not  one  other  with  her." — "  When  she 
was  in  the  ship,"  he  says  elsewhere, "  among  pirates 
and  thieves,  she  could  abide  at  the  pump,  and  joyed 
to  handle  the  boisterous  cables."f  It  is  thus  this 
trustworthy  historian  describes  a  sail  of  a  few  hours, 
enjoyed  by  Mary  and  her  court. 

Darnley,  who,  though  not  very  contented  either 
with  himself  or  any  one  els>e,  was  about  this  time 
much  in  the  queen's  company,  went  to  Alloa  by  land, 
and  remained  with  Mary  the  greater  part  of  the  time 
she  continued  at  the  Earl  of  Mar's.  The  uneasiness 
he  suffered,  and  the  peevish  complaints  to  which  he 
was  continually  giving  utterance,  were  occasioned 
by  the  want  of  deference,  with  which  he  found  him- 

*  Keith,  p.  545 ;  and  Chalmers,  rol.  i.  p.  180. 

t  Buchanan's  History,  book  xviii ;  his  "  Detection,"  in  Andnrson « 
Collections,  vol.  ii.  p.  6 ;  and  bis  "  Oration,"  p.  44. 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  259 

self  treated  by  all  Mary's  ministers.  But  the  genera! 
odium  into  which  he  had  fallen  was  entirely  to  be 
attributed  to  his  own  folly.  Between  him  and  tha 
Earl  of  Murray  there  had  long  existed  a  deadly 
hatred  against  each  other;  in  associating  himself 
with  Morton,  and  plotting  against  Huntly  and  Both- 
well,  he  had  irremediably  offended  these  noblemen  ; 
and  in  deserting  Morton  and  his  faction,  he  had  for 
ever  lost  the  friendship  of  the  only  men  who  seemed 
willing  to  regard  him  with  any  favour.  The  distress- 
ing consciousness  of  neglect  occasioned  by  his  own 
misconduct  was  thus  forced  upon  him  wherever  he 
turned;  and  instead  of  teaching  him  a  lesson  of 
humility,  it  only  served  to  sour  his  temper,  and  per- 
vert his  feelings.  The  queen  was  deeply  grieved  to 
see  him  so  universally  hated ;  and  anxiously  endea- 
voured to  make  herself  the  connecting  link  between 
him  and  her  incensed  nobility.  This  was  all  she 
could  do ;  for,  even  although  she  had  wished  it,  she 
could  not  have  dismissed,  to  please  him,  such  of  her 
ministers  as  he  considered  obnoxious;  a  measure  so 
unconstitutional  would  have  led  to  a  second  rebellion. 
But  she  hoped  by  treating  her  husband  kindly,  and 
showing  him  every  attention  herself,  to  make  it  be 
understood  that  she  expected  others  would  be  equally 
respectful.  Having  spent  some  days  together  at 
>  lloa,  Mary  and  Darnley  went  to  Peebles-shire  to 
enjoy  the  amusement  of  hunting;  but  finding  little 
sport,  they  returned  on  the  20th  of  August  to  Edin- 
burgh. Thence  they  went  to  Stirling,  taking  the 
young  prince  with  them,  whom  they  established  in 
Stirling  Castle.  Bothwell,  in  the  mean  time,  in  his 
capacity  of  lieutenant  of  the  borders,  was  in  some 
of  the  southern  shires  attending  the  duties  of  his 
charge.* 

It  is  necessary  to  detail  these  facts  thus  minutely,  as 
Mary's  principal  calumniator,  Buchanan,  endeavours 

1  Chalmers,  vol.  i.  p.  181,  et  soq. ;  Ooodall,  vol.  i. p.  292,  et  aeq. 

T.— U 


260  LIFE    OF    MART 

to  establish,  by  a  tissue  of  falsehoods,  that  im 
mediately  after  her  delivery,  or  perhaps  before  it, 
she  conceived  a  criminal  attachment  for  Bothwell 
This  absurdity  has  gained  credit  with  several  later 
writers,  and  particularly  with  Robertson,  whose 
knowledge  of  Mary's  motions  and  domestic  arrange- 
ments at  the  period  of  which  we  speak,  appears  to 
have  been  very  superficial.  Yet  he  may  be  regarded 
as  even  a  more  dangerous  enemy  than  the  former. 
Buchanan's  virulence  and  evident  party  spirit  cany 
their  own  contradiction  along  with  them ;  while 
Robertson,  not  venturing  to  go  the  same  lengths 
(though  guided  in  his  belief  entirely  by  Buchanan), 
imparts  to  the  authority  on  which  he  trusts  a  greater 
air  of  plausibility,  by  softening  down  the  violence  of 
the  original  to  suit  the  calmer  tone  of  professedly 
unprejudiced  history.  In  the  progress  of  these  Me- 
moirs, it  will  not  be  difficult  to  show  that  Rob- 
ertson's affected  candour,  or  too  hastily  formed  be- 
lief,  is  as  little  to  be  depended  on  as  Buchanan's 
undisguised  malice. 

Buchanan  wishes  it  to  be  believed,  in  the  first 
place,  that  Mary  entertained  a  guilty  love  for  Rizzio. 
He  then  proceeds  to  assert,  that  in  little  more  than 
three  months  after  his  barbarous  assassination,  she 
had  fallen  no  less  violently  in  love  with  Bothwell, 
although,  in  the  mean  time,  she  had  been  employed 
in  giving  birth  to  her  first  child,  by  a  husband  whom 
he  allows  she  doted  on  nine  or  ten  months  before. 
To  bolster  up  this  story,  he  perverts  facts  with  the 
most  reckless  indifference.  One  specimen  of  his 
style  we  have  already  seen  in  his  account  of  the 
queen's  voyage  to  Alloa ;  and  proceeding  with  his 
narrative,  we  find  him  positively  asserting  in  the 
sequel,  that  for  the  two  or  three  following  months, 
Mary  was  constantly  in  the  company  of  Bothwell, 
and  of  Bothwell  alone,  knowing,  as  he  must  have 
done  all  the  while,  that  Murray  and  Darnley,  Both- 
well's  principal  enemies,  were  her  chief  associates, 


3UEEN    OF    SCOTS.  261 

and  that  Bothwell  spent  most  of  the  time  in  a  distant 
part  of  the  kingdom. 

Robertson  dates,  even  more  confidently  than  Bu- 
chanan, the  commencement  of  Mary's  love  for  Both- 
well  at  a  period  prior  to  her  delivery.  But,  upon  this 
hypothesis,  it  is  surely  odd  that  Murray  and  Argyle 
were  permitted  by  the  queen  to  reside  in  the  castle 
previous  to  and  during  her  confinement,  while  the 
same  favour  was  peremptorily  refused  to  Bothwell 
and  it  is  no  less  odd,  that  shortly  after  her  delivery, 
Secretary  Maitland,  at  the  intercession  of  the  Earl 
of  Athol,  was  received  once  more  into  favour,  in 
direct  opposition  to  the  wishes  of  Bothwell.  It  is 
no  doubt  possible,  that  notwithstanding  this  presump- 
tive evidence  to  the  contrary,  Mary  may  at  this  very 
time  have  had  a  violent  love  for  Bothwell ;  but  are 
we  to  give  credit  to  the  improbability,  merely  because 
Buchanan  was  the  slave  of  party  feeling,  and  Rob- 
ertson disposed  to  be  credulous  ?  Are  the  detected 
fabrications  of  the  one  entitled  to  any  better  consid- 
eration than  the  gratuitous  suppositions  of  the  other  1 
"  Strange  and  surprisingly  wild,"  says  Keith,  "  are 
the  accounts  given  by  Knox,  but  more  especially  by 
Buchanan,  concerning  the  king  and  queen  about  this 
time.  I  shall  not  reckon  it  worth  while  to  transcribe 
them  here ;  and  the  best  and  shortest  confutation  I 
could  propose  of  them  is,  to  leave  my  readers  the 
trouble,  or  rather  satisfaction,  to  compare  the  same 
with  the  just  now  mentioned  abstracts  (of  despatches 
from  Randolph  to  Cecil),  and  the  three  following 
authentic  letters,"  from  the  French  and  Scottish  am- 
bassadors and  the  queen's  privy  council.*  Robert- 
son, it  is  true,  after  having  asserted,  that  "  Bothwell 
all  this  while  was  the  queen's  prime  confidant,"  and 
that  he  had  acquired  a  "  sway  over  her  heart,"  pro- 
ceeds  to  confess,  that  "  such  delicate  transitions  of 
passion  can  be  discerned  only  by  those  who  are 

*  Keith,  p.  845. 


262  LIFE    OF    MARY 

admitted  near  the  persons  of  the  parties,  and  who  can 
view  the  secret  workings  of  the  heart  with  calm  and 
acute  observation."  "  Neither  Knox  nor  Buchanan," 
he  adds,  "enjoyed  these  advantages.  Their  humble 
station  allowed  them  only  a  distant  access  to  the 
queen  and  her  favourite;  and  the  ardour  of  their 
zeal  and  the  violence  of  their  prejudices  rendered 
their  opinions  rash,  precipitate,  and  inaccurate." 
This  is  apparently  so  explicit  and  fair,  that  the  only 
wonder  is,  upon  what  grounds  Robertson  ventured 
to  make  his  accusation  of  Mary,  having  thus  shown 
how  little  dependence  was  to  be  placed  on  the  only 
authorities  which  supported  him  in  it.  It  appears, 
that  he  came  to  his  conclusions  by  a  process  of  his 
own,  which  rendered  him  independent  both  of  Knor. 
and  Bschanan.  "  Subsequent  historians,"  he  says, 
"  can  judge  of  the  reality  of  this  reciprocal  passion 
only  by  its  effects"  Robertson  must  of  course  have 
been  aware  that  he  thus  opened  the  gate  to  a  flood 
of  uncertainty,  seeing  that  the  same  effects  may 
spring  from  a  hundred  different  causes.  If  a  man 
be  found  dead,  before  looking  for  his  murderer,  it  is 
always  proper  to  inquire  whether  he  has  been  mur- 
dered. Be*:des,  if  effects  are  to  be  made  the  crite- 
rion by  which  to  form  an  opinion,  the  greatest  care 
must  be  taken  that  they  be  not  misrepresented. 
Mary  must  not  be  said  to  have  been  a  great  deal  in 
Bothwell's  company,  at  a  time  she  was  almost  never 
with  him,  and  she  must  not  be  described  as  being 
seldom  with  her  husband,  at  a  time  they  were  con- 
stantly together. 

Laing  is  another  and  still  later  writer,  who  has 
produced  a  very  able  piece  of  special  pleading  against 
Mary,  in  which  a  false  colouring  is  continually  given 
to  facts.  "  After  her  delivery,"  he  says, "  she  removed 
secretly  from  the  castle,  and  was  followed  by  Darnley 
to  Alloa,  Stirling,  Meggetland,  and  back  again  to  Edh 
burgh,  as  if  she  were  desirous  to  escape  from  the  pres 
ence  of  hei  husband."    That  Darnleyyo//o7»«f  Mar) 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  263 

is  an  assumption  of  Mr.  Laing's  own.  Conceited  as  the 
young  king  was,  he  would  rather  never  have  stirred 
out  of  his  chamber  again  than  have  condescended  to 
follow  so  perseveringly  one  who  wished  to  avoid 
him,  first  to  Alloa,  then  to  Stirling,  then  into  Peebles- 
shire,  then  back  again  to  Edinburgh,  and  once  more 
to  Stirling.  The  only  correct  part  of  Laing's  state- 
ment is,  that  Mary  chose  to  go  by  water  to  Alloa, 
while  Darnley  preferred  travelling  by  land ;  perhaps, 
because  he  wished  to  hunt  by  the  way,  or  call  at  the 
seats  of  some  of  the  nobility.  The  distance  alto- 
gether was  only  twenty  miles ;  and  the  notion  that 
Mary  removed  "  secretly"  from  the  castle,  for  the  im- 
portant purpose  of  taking  an  excursion  to  Alloa,  is 
absolutely  ludicrous.  In  support  of  his  assertion 
that  Mary  had  lost  her  heart  to  Bothwell,  Laing  pro- 
ceeds to  mention  that,  shortly  after  the  assassination 
of  Rizzio,  the  earl,  for  his  successful  services,  was 
loaded  with  favours  and  preferment.  That  Mary 
should  have  conferred  some  reward  upon  a  nobleman 
whose  power  and  fidelity  were  the  chief  means  of 
preserving  her  on  a  tottering  throne,  is  not  at  all 
unlikely;  but  to  make  that  reward  appear  dispro- 
portioned  to  the  occasion,  Laing  misdates  the  time 
when  most  of  Bothwell's  offices  of  trust  were  be- 
stowed upon  him.  Several  of  them  were  his  by 
hereditary  right,  such  as  those  of  lord  high  admiral, 
and  the  sheriffships  of  Berwick,  Haddington,  and 
Edinburgh.  Part  of  his  authority  on  the  borders  he 
had  acquired  during  the  time  of  the  late  queen-regent, 
Mary's  mother,  having  been  made  her  lieutenant,  and 
keeper  of  Hermitage  Castle,  in  1558;  and  it  was 
immediately  after  his  restoration  to  favour,  during 
the  continuance  of  Murray's  rebellion,  that  he  was 
appointed  lieutenant  of  the  West  and  Middle  Marches, 
a  situation  which  implied  the  superiority  of  the  ab- 
beys of  Melrose  and  Haddington.*  The  only  addi- 

*  Knox,  p.  386;  Anderson,  vol.  i.  p.  90;  Tytler,  rol.  ii.  p.  30;  Chal- 
n>ern  vol.  ii  p.  906.  307. 


864  LIFE    OF    MARY 

tion  made  to  Bothwell's  possessions  and  titles,  in 
consequence  of  his  services  after  Rizzio's  death,  was 
that  of  the  castle  and  lordship  of  Dunbar,  togethei 
with  a  grant  of  some  crown-lands.* 

There  is  another  circumstance  connected  with 
Bothwell  which  we  omitted  to  mention  before,  but 
which  may  with  propriety  be  stated  here.  At  the 
period  of  which  we  write,  when  he  is  accused  of 
being  engaged  in  a  criminal  intercourse  with  Mary, 
he  had  been  only  two  or  three  months  married  to  a 
wife  every  way  deserving  of  his  love.  Three  weeks 
before  the  death  of  Rizzio,  he  had  espoused,  in  the 
thirty-sixth  year  of  his  age,  the  Lady  Jane  Gordon, 
the  sister  of  his  friend,  the  Earl  of  Huntly.  She 
was  just  twenty,  and  was  possessed  of  an  elegant 
and  cultivated  understanding.  They  were  married 
at  Holyrood  on  the  22d  of  February,  1566,  after  the 
manner  of  the  Reformed  persuasion,  in  direct  oppo- 
sition to  Mary's  wishes.  She  entertained  them,  how- 
ever, at  a  banquet  on  the  first  day ;  and  the  feasting 
and  rejoicings  continued  for  a  week.  "  The  queen 
desired,"  says  Knox,  "  that  the  marriage  might  be 
made  in  the  chapel  at  the  mass,  which  the  Earl 
Bothwell  would  in  no  ways  grant."!  Was  there  any 
love  existing  at  this  time  between  Mary  and  her 
minister?  Robertson  and  Laing  seem  to  think  there 
was.  Choosing  to  judge  of  Mary's  feelings  towards 
Bothwell  by  effects,  not  of  effects  by  feelings,  they 
quote  several  passages  from  the  letters  of  one  or 
two  of  the  foreign  ambassadors  then  in  Scotland, 
which  mention  that  Bothwell  possessed  great  influ 
ence  at  court.  That  these  ambassadors  report  n 

*  Knox,  p.  396 ;  and  Chalmers,  p.  219. 

t  Knox,  p.  393;  Chalmers,  vol.  ii.  p.  206  and  318;  Laing,  vol.  i.  p. 
359.  In  the  first  edition  of  Ty  tier's  •'  Vindication,"  Bothwell,  being  con- 
founded with  th«  former  earl,  his  father,  was  said  to  be  about  fifty-nine 
at  this  period.  In  the  second  edition,  Tytler  partly  corrected  his  error, 
bat  not  eniirel y  ;  for  he  stated  Boihwell's  age  to  be  forty-three  when  he 
married.  Chalmers,  who  is  seldom  wrong  in  the  matter  of  date*,  h* 
settled  Ike  question. 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  269 

more  than  the  truth  may  be  very  safely  granted; 
though  certainly  there  is  no  evidence  to  show  that 
he  enjoyed  so  much  weight  as  Murray,  01  more  than 
Huntly.  Yet  he  deserved  better  than  the  former,  for 
he  had  hitherto,  with  one  exception,  continued  as 
faithful  to  Mary  as  he  had  previously  been  to  her 
mother.  The  letters  alluded  to  only  repeat  what 
Randolph  had  mentioned  six  months  before.  So 
early  as  October,  1565,  only  two  months  after  Mary's 
marriage  with  Darnley,  and  when  her  love  for  him 
remained  at  its  height,  Randolph  wrote  to  Cecil ; — 
"  My  Lord  Bothwell,  for  his  great  virtue,  doth  now 
all,  next  to  the  Earl  of  Athol."*  Was  Mary  in  love 
with  Bothwell  at  this  date  1  Or  was  it  with  the  Earl 
of  Athol  1  And  did  she  postpone  her  attachment  to 
Bothwell  till  he  should  prove  his  for  her  by  becom- 
ing the  husband  of  the  Lady  Jane  Gordon  1 — We 
proceed  with  our  narrative. 

Having  spent  some  time  with  Darnley  at  Stirling, 
Mary  returned  to  Edinburgh  for  the  despatch  of  public 
business,  on  the  llth  or  12th  of  September.  She 
wished  Darnley  to  accompany  her ;  but  as  he  could 
not,  or  would  not,  act  with  either  Murray's  or  Hunt- 
ley's  party,  he  refused.  On  the  21st  she  came  again 
to  Stirling;  but  was  recalled  once  more  to  Edin- 
burgh, by  her  privy  council,  on  the  23d.  She  left 
the  French  ambassador,  Le  Croc,  with  the  wayward 
Darnley,  hoping  that  his  wisdom  and  experience 
might  be  of  benefit  to  him.f  The  distinction  which, 
from  this  period  up  to  the  hour  of  his  death,  Darnley 
constantly  made  between  his  feelings  for  Mary  her- 
self and  for  her  ministers  is  very  striking.  With 
Mary  he  was  always  willing  to  associate,  and  she 
had  the  same  desire  to  be  as  much  as  she  could  with 
him;  but  with  the  conditions  he  exacted,  and  by 
which  alone  she  was  to  purchase  much  of  his  com- 
pany, it  was  impossible  for  her  to  comply.  She 

*  Chalmert,  vol.  ii.  p.  217. 
t  Ibid.  vol.  1.  p.  183  and  184. 


266  LIFE    OF    MARY 

might  as  well  have  given  up  her  crown  at  once  as 
have  dismissed  all  those  officers  of  state  with  whom 
Darnley  had  quarrelled.  The  truth  is,  her  husband's 
situation  was  a  very  unfortunate  one.  His  own 
imbecility  and  unlawful  ambition  had  brought  upon 
him  general  odium ;  but  if  he  had  possessed  a 
stronger  mind,  or  a  greater  stock  of  hypocrisy,  he 
might  have  re-established  himself  in  the  good  graces 
of  at  least  a  part  of  the  Scottish  nobility.  But  he 
had  neither  the  prudence  to  disguise  his  sentiments, 
nor  the  ability  to  maintain  them.  "He  had  not 
learned,"  says  Chalmers,  "  to  smile,  and  smile,  and 
be  a  villain.  He  was  still  very  young,  and  still  very 
inexperienced ;  and  the  queen  could  not  easilj 
govern  without  the  aid  of  those  odious  men," — his 
enemies. 

Mary  had  been  only  a  few  days  in  Edinburgh 
when  she  received  a  letter  from  the  Earl  of  Lennox, 
Darnley's  father,  which  afflicted  her  not  a  little. 
Lennox,  who  resided  principally  at  Glasgow,  had 
gone  to  Stirling  to  visit  his  son ;  and  Darnley  had 
there  communicated  to  him  a  design  his  present  dis- 
contents had  suggested,  which  was  to  leave  the 
country  and  proceed  to  the  Continent.  Both  Len- 
nox and  Le  Croc,  "a  wise,  aged  gentleman,"  as 
Holinshed  calls  him,  had  done  all  they  could  to  divert 
him  from  so  mad  a  purpose ;  but  his  resolution 
seemed  to  be  fixed.  Mary  immediately  laid  her 
father-in-law's  letter  before  her  privy  council,  who 
"  took  a  resolution  to  talk  with  the  king,  that  they 
might  learn  from  himself  the  occasion  of  this  hasty 
deliberation  of  his,  if  any  such  he  had;  and  like- 
wise that  they  might  thereby  be  enabled  to  advise 
her  majesty  after  what  manner  she  should  comport 
herself  in  this  conjuncture."*  On  the  evening  of 
the  very  day  that  this  resolution  was  adopted  (the 
29th  of  September),  Darnley  himself  arrived  at 

'  Mmilland's  official  letter  to  Catharine  de  Medici*,  In  Keith,  p.  348 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  26? 

Holyrood;  but  being  informed  that  the  Earls  of 
Argyle,  Mui  ray,  and  Rothes  were  with  the  queen,  he 
declared  he  would  not  enter  the  palace  till  they 
departed.*  The  queen  took  this  petulant  behaviour 
as  mildly  as  possible ;  and,  glad  of  his  arrival,  even 
condescended  to  go  forth  from  the  palace  to  meet 
her  husband,  and  conducted  him  to  her  own  apart- 
ment, where  they  spent  the  night  together-! 

Next  day  Mary  prevailed  upon  her  husband  to 
attend  a  meeting  of  her  council.  They  requested 
to  be  informed  by  the  king,  whether  he  had  actually 
resolved  to  depart  out  of  the  realm,  and  if  he  had, 
what  were  the  motives  that  influenced  him,  and  the 
objects  he  had  in  view.  They  added,  "  that  if  he 
could  complain  of  any  of  the  subjects  of  the  realm, 
be  they  of  what  quality  soever,  the  fault  should  be 
immediately  repaired  to  his  satisfaction."  Mary 
herself  took  him  by  the  hand,  and  speaking  affec- 
'.ionately  to  him,  "  besought  him,  for  God's  sake,  to 
declare  if  she  had  given  him  any  occasion  for  this 
resolution.''^  She  had  a  clear  conscience,  she  said, 
that  in  all  her  life  she  had  done  no  action  which 
could  any  ways  prejudge  either  his  or  her  own 
honour ;  but,  nevertheless,  that  as  she  might,  per- 
haps, have  given  him  offence  without  design,  she  was 
willing  to  make  amends,  as  far  as  he  should  require  ; 
and  therefore  "prayed  him  not  to  dissemble  the 
occasion  of  his  displeasure,  if  any  he  had,  nor 
to  spare  her  in  the  least  manner.^  Darnley 
answered  distinctly,  that  he  had  no  fault  to  find 
with  the  queen ;  but  he  was  either  unable  or  unwilling 
to  explain  further.  With  the  stubborn  discontent 
of  a  petted  child,  he  would  neither  say  one  thing  nor 
another — neither  confess  nor  deny.  Without  agree- 

*  These  noblemen,  it  may  be  observe/I,  instead  of  being  the  friends, 
were  the  personal  and  political  enemies  of  Bothwell,  with  whom  Dtrnley 
mw  less  displeased  than  with  them. 

t  Goodall,  vol.  i.  p.  284 ;  Keith,  p.  348. 

t  Le  Croc's  Letter  in  Keith,  p.  348. 

$  Maitland's  Letter  in  Keith,  p  340 


263  LIFE    OF    MARY 

ing  to  alter  his  determination,  whatever  it  might  b« 
and  it  was,  perhaps,  after  all,  only  a  trick  contrived 
to  work  upon  Mary's  affections,  and  intimidate  her 
into  his  wishes,  he  at  length  took  his  leave.  Upon 
going  away,  he  said  to  the  queen,  "  Farewell,  madam ; 
you  shall  not  see  my  face  'for  a  long  while."  He 
next  bade  Le  Croc  farewell ;  and  then  turning  coldly 
to  the  lords  of  the  council,  he  said,  "  Gentlemen, 
adieu."* 

Shortly  afterward  Mary  received  a  letter  from 
Darnley,  in  which  he  complained  of  two  things. 
"One is,"  says  Maitland,  "that  her  majesty  trusts 
him  not  with  so  much  authority,  nor  is  at  such  pains 
to  advance  him  and  make  him  be  honoured  in  the 
nation,  as  she  at  first  was.  And  the  other  point  is. 
that  nobody  attends  him,  and  that  the  nobility  desert 
his  company.  To  these  two  points  the  queen  has 
made  answer,  that  if  the  case  be  so  he  ought  to  blame 
himself,  not  her ;  for  that  in  the  beginning  she  had 
conferred  so  much  honour  upon  him  as  came  after- 
ward to  render  herself  very  uneasy,  the  credit  and 
reputation  wherein  she  had  placed  him  having  served 
as  a  shadow  to  those  who  have  most  heinously 
offended  her  majesty;  but,  howsoever,  that  she  has, 
notwithstanding  this,  continued  to  show  him  such 
respect,  that  although  they  who  did  perpetrate  the 
murder  of  her  faithful  servant  bad  entered  her 
chamber  with  his  knowledge,  having  followed  him 
close  at  the  back,  and  had  named  him  the  chief  of 
their  enterprise, — yet  would  she  never  accuse  him 
thereof  but  did  always  excuse  him,  and  was  willing 
to  appear  as  if  she  believed  it  not.  And  then  as  to 
his  being  not  attended, — the  fault  thereof  must  be 
charged  upon  himself,  since  she  has  always  made  an 
offer  to  him  of  her  own  servants.  And  for  the 
nobility,  they  come  to  court,  and  pay  deference  and 
^,  according  as  they  have  any  matters  to  do, 

*  Keith,  idem,  p.  346  and  349 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  269 

and  as  they  receive  a  kindly  countenance ;  but  that 
he  is  at  no  pains  to  gain  them  and  make  himself  be- 
loved by  them,  having  gone  so  far  as  to  prohibit  these 
noblemen  to  enter  his  room,  whom  she  had  first 
appointed  to  be  about  his  person.  If  the  nobility 
abandon  him,  his  own  deportment  towards  them  is 
the  cause  thereof;  for  if  he  desire  to  be  followed 
and  attended  by  them,  he  must,  in  the  first  place,  make 
them  to  love  him,  and  to  this  purpose  must  render 
himself  amiable  to  them;  without  which,  it  will 
prove  a  most  difficult  task  for  her  majesty  to  regulate 
this  point,  especially  to  make  the  nobility  consent 
that  he  shall  have  the  management  of  affairs  put  into 
his  hands ;  because  she  finds  them  utterly  averse  to 
any  such  matter."* 

No  answer  or  explanation  could  be  more  satis- 
factory; and  the  whole  affair  exhibits  a  highly 
favourable  view  of  Mary's  conduct  and  character. 
Le  Croc  accordingly  says,  in  the  letter  already 
quoted,  "  I  never  saw  her  majesty  so  much  beloved, 
esteemed,  and  honoured;  nor  so  great  a  harmony 
among  all  her  subjects  as  at  present  is  by  her  wise 
conduct,  for  I  cannot  perceive  the  smallest  difference 
or  division."  That  Darnley  ever  seriously  intended 
to  quit  the  country,  it  has  been  said,  is  extremely 
uncertain.  It  would  appear,  however,  according  to 
Knox,  that  he  still  harboured  some  chimerical  design 
of  making  himself  independent  of  Mary;  and  with 
this  view  he  treacherously  wrote  to  the  pope  and  the 
kings  of  Spain  and  France,  misrepresenting  the  state 
of  affairs,  and  offering  with  their  assistance  to  re- 
establish the  Catholic  religion.  Copies  of  these  let- 
ters, Knox  adds,  fell  into  Mary's  hands,  who,  of 
course,  took  steps  to  prevent  their  meeting  with  any 
attention  at  the  Continental  courts.f  But  be  this 
matter  as  it  may  (and  its  truth  rests  upon  lather 
doubtful  authority,  since  we  find  no  mention  of  it 

*  Keith,  idem,  p.  350  t  Knox,  p  399. 


270  LIFE    OF   MARY 

either  by  the  lords  of  privy  council  or  the  French 
ambassador),  it  is  certain  that  Darnley's  determina- 
tion, hastily  formed,  was  as  hastily  abandoned.* 

Shortly  after  her  husband's  departure  from  Edin- 
burgh, the  queen,  attended  by  her  officers  of  state, 
set  out  upon  a  progress  towards  the  borders,  with 

*  The  turn  which  Buchanan  gives  to  the  whole  of  this  affair,  in  the 
work  he  libellously  calls  a  "  History,"  scarcely  deserves  notice.  "  In 
the  mean  time,"  he  veraciously  writes,  in  his  Eighteenth  Hook,  "  the 
king  finding  no  place  Tor  favour  with  his  wife,  is  sent  away  with  injuries 
and  reproaches ;  and  though  he  often  tried  her  spirit,  yet  by  no  offices  of 
observance  could  he  obtain  to  be  admitted  to  conjugal  familiarity  as  be- 
fore ;  whereupon  he  retired  in  discontent  to  Stirling."  In  his  "  Detec- 
tion," he  is  still  more  ludicrously  false.  "  In  the  mean  time,"  he  writes, 
"  the  king,  commanded  out  of  sight,  and  with  injuries  and  miseries  ban- 
ished from  her,  kept  himself  close  with  a  few  of  his  servants  at  Stirling  • 
for,  alas !  what  should  he  else  do  ?  He  could  not  creep  into  any  piece  of 
grace  with  the  queen,  nor  could  get  so  much  as  to  obtain  his  daily  neccs 
sary  expenses,  to  find  his  servants  and  horses.  And  finally,  with  brawl 
ings  lightly  rising  for  every  small  trifle,  and  quarrels  usually  picked,  he 
was  chased  out  ol  her  presence ;  yet  his  heart,  obstinately  fixed  in  loving 
her,  could  not  be  restrained,  but  he  must  needs  come  back  to  Edinburgh 
of  purpose,  with  all  kind  of  serviceable  humbleness  to  get  some  entry  into 
her  former  favour,  and  to  recover  the  kind  society  of  marriage :  who  once 
again,  with  most  dishonourable  disdain  excluded,  once  again  returns 
from  whence  he  came,  there,  as  in  solitary  desert,  to  bewail  his  wolul 
miseries." — Anderson,  vol.  ii.  p.  9.— Another  equally  honest  record  of 
these  times,  commonly  known  by  the  name  of  "  Murray's  or  Cecil's 
Journal,"1  the  former  having  supplied  the  information  to  the  latter,  to 
answer  his  own  views  at  a  subsequent  period,  says, — "  At  this  time,  the 
king  coming  from  Stirling,  was  repulsed  with  chiding."  The  same 
Journal  mentions,  that  on  the  24th  of  September,  Mary  lodged  in  the 
Chequer-house,  and  met  with  Bothwell;  a  story  which  Buchanan  dis- 
custingly  amplifies  in  his  Detection,  though  the  privy  council  records  prove 
that  the  queen  lodged  in  her  palace  of  Holyrood  on  the  24th  with  her  privy 
touncil  and  officers  of  state  in  attendance.  As  to  Buchanan's  complaint, 
that  the  king  was  stinted  in  his  necessary  expenses,  the  treasurer's  ac- 
counts clearly  show  its  falsehood.  "  The  fact  is,"  says  Chalmers,  "  that 
he  was  allowed  to  order,  by  himself,  payments  in  money  and  furnish- 
tnents  of  necessaries  from  the  public  treasurer.  And  the  treasurer's  ac- 
counts show  that  lie  was  amply  furnished  with  necessaries  at  the  very 
lime  when  those  calumnious  statements  were  asserted  by  men  who  knew 
them  to  be  untrue.  On  two  days  alone,  the  13th  and  31st  of  August,  the 
treasurer,  by  the  king  and  queen's  order,  was  supplied  with  a  vast  number 
of  articles  for  the  king's  use  alone,  amounting  to  3002.,  which  is  more 
than  the  queen  had  for  six  months,  even  including  the  necessaries  which 
she  had  during  her  confinement." — Chalmers,  vol.  i.  p.  186.  These  mi- 
nute details  would  be  unworthy  of  attention,  did  they  not  serve  to  prove 
the  difficulty  of  determining  whether  Buchanan's  patron,  who  was  also 
Mary's  prime  minister,  or  the  historian  himself,  possessed  the  superioi 
talent  for  misrepresentatia  a 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  27 1 

the  view,  in  particular,  of  holding  justice-courts  at 
Jedburgh.  The  southern  marches  of  Scotland  were 
almost  always  in  a  state  of  insubordination.  The 
recent  encouragement  which  the  secret  practices, 
first  of  Murray  and  afterward  of  Morton,  both  aided 
by  Elizabeth,  had  given  to  the  turbulent  spirit  of  the 
borderers,  called  loudly  for  the  interference  of  the 
law.  Mary  had  intended  to  hold  assizes  in  Liddis- 
dale  in  August,  but  on  account  of  the  harvest,  post- 
poned leaving  Edinburgh  till  October.  On  the  6th 
or  7th  of  that  month  she  sent  forward  Bothwell,  her 
lieutenant,  to  make  the  necessary  preparations  for 
her  arrival,  and  on  the  8th  the  queen  and  her  court 
set  out, — the  noblemen  and  gentlemen  of  the  southern 
shires  having  been  summoned  to  meet  her  with  their 
retainers  at  Melrose.  On  the  10th  she  arrived  at 
Jedburgh.  There,  or  it  may  have  been  on  her  way 
from  Melrose,  she  received  the  disagreeable  news, 
that  on  the  very  day  she  left  Edinburgh,  her  lieu- 
tenant's authority  had  been  insulted  by  some  of  the 
unruly  borderers,  and  that  soon  after  his  reaching 
his  castle  of  Hermitage,  a  place  of  strength  about 
eighteen  miles  from  Jedburgh,  he  had  been  severely 
and  dangerously  wounded.  Different  historians 
assign  different  reasons  for  the  attack  made  on 
Bothwell.  Some  say  that  Morton  had  bought  ovei 
the  tribe  of  Elliots  to  revenge  his  present  disgrace 
upon  one  whom  he  considered  an  enemy.  Others, 
with  greater  probability,  assert  that  it  was  only  a 
riot  occasioned  by  thieves,  whose  lawless  proceed- 
ings Bothwell  wished  to  punish.  But  whichever 
statement  be  correct,  the  report  of  what  had  actually 
taken  place  was,  as  usual,  a  good  deal  exaggerated 
when  it  reached  Mary.  Being  engaged,  however, 
with  public  business  at  Jedburgh,  she  was  prevented 
for  several  days  from  ascertaining  the  precise  truth 
for  herself.  Finding  that  she  had  leisure  on  the  16th 
of  the  month,  and  being  informed  that  her  lieutenant 
was  still  confined  with  his  wounds,  she  paid  him  th« 


272  LIFE   OF   MARY 

compliment,  or  rather  discharged  the  duty,  of  riding 
across  the  country  with  some  attendants,  both  to 
inquire  into  the  state  of  his  health  and  to  karn  to 
what  extent  her  authority  had  been  insulted  in  his 
person.  She  remained  with  him  only  an  hour  or  two, 
and  returned  to  Jedburgh  the  same  evening.* 

The  above  simple  statement  of  facts,  so  natural 
in  themselves,  and  so  completely  authenticated,  ac- 
quires additional  interest  when  compared  with  the 
common  version  of  this  story,  which  Buchanan  and 
his  follower  Robertson  have  contrived  to  render  pre- 
valent. "  When  the  news  that  Bothwell  was  in  great 
danger  of  his  life,"  says  Buchanan,  "  was  brought  to 
the  queen  at  Borthwick,  though  the  winter  was  very 
sharp,  she  flew  in  haste,  first  to  Melrose,  then  to  Jed- 
burgh.  There,  though  she  received  certain  intel- 
ligence that  Bothwell  was  alive,  yet,  being  impatient 
of  delay,  and  not  able  to  forbear,  though  in  such  a 
bad  time  of  the  year,  notwithstanding  the  difficulty 
of  the  way  and  the  danger  of  robbers,  she  put  her- 
self on  her  journey  with  such  attendants  as  hardly 
any  honest  man,  though  he  was  but  of  a  mean  con- 
dition, would  trust  his  life  and  fortune  to.  From 
thence  she  returned  again  to  Jedburgh,  and  there  she 
was  mighty  diligent  in  making  great  preparations 
for  Bothwell's  being  brought  thither. "f  The  whole 
of  this  is  a  tissue  of  wilful  misrepresentation.  No 
one  unacquainted  with  Buchanan's  character  would 
read  the  statement  without  supposing  that  Mary  pro- 
ceeded direct  from  Borthwick  to  Hermitage-  ( Castle, 
scarcely  stopping  an  hour  by  the  way.  Now,  if 
Mary  heard  of  Bothwell's  accident  at  Borthwick 
(which  is  scarcely  possible),  it  must  have  been,  at  the 
latest,  on  the  9th  of  October,  or  more  probably  on 
the  evening  of  the  8th ;  but,  so  far  from  being  in  a 

*  Birrel's  Diary ;  Keith,  p.  331;  Goodall,  rol.  1.  p.  308;  Chalmers,  TO!. 
L  p.  190,  vol.  ii.  p.  109  and  224. 

f  Buchanan's  History,  book  xviii ;  and  in  hi»  "  Detection"  he  repeat* 
the  same  story  with  still  more  venom 


dUEEN    OF    SCOTS.  273 

hurry  in  consequence,  it  appears  by  the  privy  council 
register  that  she  did  not  reach  Jedburgh  till  the  10th, 
and,  by  the  privy  seal  register,  that  she  did  not  visit 
Hermitage  Castle  till  the  16th  of  the  month.*  Had 
she  really  ridden  from  Borthwick  to  the  Hermitage 
and  back  again  to  Jedburgh  in  one  day,  she  would 
have  performed  a  journey  of  nearly  seventy  miles, 
which  she  could  not  have  done  even  though  she  had 
wished  it.  As  to  her  employing  herself,  on  her  re- 
turn to  Jedburgh,  "  in  making  great  preparations  foi 
BothwelFs  being  brought  thither,"  she  certainly  must 
have  made  extremely  good  use  of  her  time,  for  she 
returned  on  the  evening  of  the  16th,  and  next  day 
she  was  taken  dangerously  ill.  The  motives  which 
induced  Buchanan  to  propagate  falsehood  concern- 
ing Mary  are  sufficiently  known  ;  but,  being  known, 
Robertson  ought  to  have  been  well  convinced  of  the 
truth  of  his  allegations  before  he  drew  inferences 
upon  such  authority.  But  the  doctor  had  laid  down 
the  principle  that  he  was  to  judge  of  Mary's  love  for 
Bothwell  by  its  effects ;  and  it  became,  therefore,  con- 
venient for  him  to  assert  that  her  visit  to  Hermitage 
Castle  was  one  of  those  effects.  "  Mary  instantly 
flew  thither,"  he  says, "  with  an  impatience  which 
strongly  marks  the  anxiety  of  a  lover,  but  little  suiting 
the  dignity  of  a  queen."  Now  "  instantly"  must  mean 
that  she  allowed  at  all  events  six  and  probably  seven 
days  to  elapse ;  and  that  too  after  being  informed  of  the 
danger  one  of  the  most  powerful  and  best  affectioned 
of  her  nobility  had  incurred  in  her  behalf.  Robert- 
son must  have  thought  it  strange  that  she  staid  only 
an  hour  or  two  at  the  castle.  "  Upon  her  finding 
Bothwell  slightly  wounded,"  says  Tytler,  "  was  it 
love  that  made  her  in  such  a  violent  haste  to  re- 
turn  back  the  same  night  to  Jedburgh,  by  the  same 
bad  roads  and  tedious  miles  ?  Surely,  if  love  had  in 
any  degree  possessed  her  heart,  it  must  have  sup- 

*  Both  of  these  registers  are  quoted  by  Chalmers,  vol.  i.  p.  181 

31—18 


274  LIFE    OF    MARY 

plied  her  with  many  plausible  reasons  for  passing  that 
night  in  her  lover's  company,  without  exposing  her- 
self to  the  inconveniences  of  an  uncomfortable 
journey,  and  the  inclemencies  of  the  night  air  at  that 
season."  If  Mary  had  been  blamed  for  an  over- 
degree  of  callousness  and  indifference,  there  would 
have  been  almost  more  justice  in  the  censure.  With 
honest  warmth  Chalmers  remarks,  that  •'  the  records 
and  the  facts  laugh  at  Robertson's  false  dates  and 
frothy  declamation."* 

On  the  17th  of  October  Mary  was  seized  with  a 
severe  and  dangerous  fever,  and  for  ten  days  her  life 
was  esteemed  in  great  danger ;  indeed  it  was  at  one 
time  reported  at  Edinburgh  that  she  was  dead.  The 
fever  was  accompanied  with  fainting  or  convulsion- 
fits,  of  an  unusual  and  alarming  description.  They 
frequently  lasted  for  three  or  four  hours ;  and  during 
their  continuance  she  was,  to  all  appearance,  lifeless. 
Her  body  was  motionless ;  her  eyes  closed ;  hei 
mouth  fast ;  her  feet  and  arms  stiff  and  cold.  Upon 
coming  out  of  these,  she  suffered  the  most  dreadful 

*  Miss  Benger's  observations  upon  this  subject  are  judicious  and  forcible 
"  It  was  not  till  the  16lh  the  queen, with  her  officers  of  state,  passed  to  Her- 
mitage Castle,  twenty  miles  distant,  whether  to  confer  with  Bothwell  on 
business  respectins  the  motives  for  the  late  outrage  on  his  person,  or 
purely  as  a  visit  of  friendship  and  condolence,  a  respectful,  and,  as  it  should 
seem,  well-merited  acknowledgment  of  his  loyal  services,  must  be  left 
to  conjecture.  It  is,  however,  not  improbable,  since  the  Earl  of  Morton 
was  at  that  time  known  to  be  in  the  neighbouring  March  of  Cessford, 
that  Mary  might  be  anxious  to  ascertain  from  Both  well's  'lips  whether 
he  ascribed  the  attack  on  his  person  to  that  nobleman's  instigation.  In 
Morton's  behalf  she  had  long  been  importuned  by  Murray,  by  Elizabeth, 
and  Maitland,  and,  at  a  proper  time,  meant  to  yield  to  their  solicitations  ; 
but  the  discovery  of  a  new  treason  would  have  altered  her  proceedings : 
to  ascertain  the  fact  was,  therefore,  of  importance.  By  whatever  con 
suit-rations  Mary  was  induced  to  pay  this  visit,  there  appears  not  (when 
calumny  is  discarded),  any  specific  ground  for  the  suspicion  that  she  then 
felt  for  Bothwell  d  warmer  sentiment  than  friendship.  In  all  her  affec 
tions  Mary  was  ardent  and  romantic,  and,  though  it  should  have  been 
admitted  that  she  had  gone  to  Hermilhce  Castle  merely  to  say  one  kind 
word  to  the  loyal  servant  whose  blood  had  lately  flowed  in  her  service, 
•he  had,  two  years  before,  made  a  far  greater  effort  to  gratify  a  female 
friend,  when  she  rode  to  Callander  to  assist  at  the  baptism  of  Lord  Li  ving- 
none's  child,  regardless  of  the  danger  which  awaited  her  from  Murray 
and  his  party."— Memoirs,  vol.  ii.  p.  289  We  hove  dwelt  too  loug  on  • 
calumny  unsupported  by  any  respectaUe  evidence 


QUEEN    OF    SCOTS  276 

pain,  her  whole  frame  being  collapsed,  and  her  limbs 
drawn  writhingly  together.  She  was  at  length  so 
much  reduced,  that  she  herself  began  to  despair  of 
recovery.  She  summoned  together  the  noblemen 
who  were  with  her,  in  particular  Murray,  Huntly, 
Rothes,  and  Bothwell,  and  gave  them  what  she  be- 
lieved to  be  her  dying  advice  and  instructions.  Both- 
well  was  not  at  Jedburgh  when  the  queen  was  taken 
ill,  nor  did  he  show  any  greater  haste  to  proceed 
thither  when  he  heard  of  her  sickness  than  she  had 
done  to  visit  him,  it  being  the  24th  of  October  before 
he  left  Hermitage  Castle.*  After  requesting  her  coun- 
cil to  pray  for  her,  and  professing  her  willingness  to 
submit  to  the  will  of  Heaven,  Mary  recommended 
her  son  to  their  especial  care.  She  entreated  that 
they  would  give  every  attention  to  his  education, 
suffering  none  to  approach  him  whose  example 
might  pervert  his  manners  or  his  mind,  and  studying 
to  bring  him  up  in  all  virtue  and  godliness.  She 
strongly  advised  the  same  toleration  to  be  continued 
in  matters  of  religion  which  she  had  practised ;  and 
she  concluded  by  requesting  that  suitable  provision 
should  be  made  for  the  servants  of  her  household, 
to  whom  Mary  was  scrupulously  attentive,  and  by 
all  of  whom  she  was  much  beloved.  Fortunately, 
however,  after  an  opportunity  had  been  thus  afforded 
her  of  evincing  her  strength  of  mind  and  willing- 
ness to  meet  death,  the  violence  of  her  disease 
abated,  and  her  youth  and  good  constitution  tri- 
umphed over  the  attack. 

Darnley,  who  was  with  his  father  at  Glasgow,  prob- 
ably did  not  hear  of  the  queen's  illness  till  one  or 
two  days  after  its  commencement ;  but  as  soon  as 
lie  was  made  acquainted  with  her  extreme  danger, 
he  determined  on  going  to  see  her.  Here  again  we 
discover  the  marked  distinction  that  characterized 
Darnley's  conduct  towards  his  wife  and  towards  her 
nobility.  With  Mary  herself  he  had  no  quarrel ; 
and  though  his  love  for  her  was  not  so  strong  and 

*  Chalmers,  vol.  ii.  p.  294 

i— x 


276  LIFE    OF    MARY    QUEEN    OF    SCOT8. 

pure  as  it  should  have  been,  and  was  easily  forgotten 
when  it  stood  in  the  way  of  his  own  selfish  wishes, 
he  never  lost  any  opportunity  of  evincing  his  desire 
to  continue  on  a  friendly  footing  with  her.  When 
he  last  parted  from  her  at  Holyrood,  he  had  said  that 
she  should  not  see  him  for  a  long  while ;  but,  startled 
into  better  feelings  by  her  unexpected  illness,  he 
came  to  visit  her  at  Jedburgh,  on  the  28th  of  Octo- 
ber. The  queen  was  by  this  time  better ;  but  hei 
convalescence  being  still  uncertain,  Darnley's  ar- 
rival was  far  from  being  agreeable  to  her  ministers. 
Should  Mary  die,  one  or  other  of  them  would  be  ap- 
pointed regent,  an  office  to  which  they  knew  that 
Darnley,  as  father  to  the  young  prince,  had  strong 
claims.  It  was  their  interest,  therefore,  to  sow  dis- 
sension in  every  possible  way  between  the  queen 
and  her  husband;  and  they  trembled  lest  the  remain- 
ing affection  they  entertained  for  each  other  might 
be  again  rekindled  into  a  more  ardent  flame.  Mary, 
when  cool  and  dispassionate,  they  knew  they  could 
manage  easily;  but  Mary,  when  in  love,  chose,  like 
most  other  women,  to  have  her  own  way.  They 
received  Darnley  on  the  present  occasion  so  forbid- 
dingly, and  gave  him  so  little  countenance,  that 
having  spent  a  day  and  a  night  with  Mary,  he  was 
glad  again  to  take  his  departure,  and  leave  her  to 
carry  on  the  business  of  the  state,  surrounded  by 
those  designing  and  factious  men  who  were  weaving 
the  web  of  her  ruin. 

On  the  9th  of  November  the  queen  with  her  court 
left  Jedburgh  and  went  to  Kelso,  where  she  remained 
two  days.  She  proceeded  thence  to  Berwick,  at- 
tended by  not  fewer  than  800  knights  and  gentlemen 
on  horseback.  From  Berwick  she  rode  to  Dunbar, 
and  from  Dunbar,  by  Tantallan,  to  Craigmillar,  where 
she  arrived  on  the  20th  of  November,  1666,  and  re- 
mained for  three  weeks,  during  which  time  an  oc 
rmrrence  of  importance  took  place. 

END    OF    VOL.    I 


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